Lock Down
by Maru Maru
Summary: On Extended Hiatus [AU] One girl holds the power to conquer a thousand galaxies. One girl has the power to free her planet's people from the chains of opression. And thus, begins the Great Rebellion to free the peoples of Earth.
1. Prologue

~*Disclaimer: No reference to anything in this really, and so I can say that the entire chapter is MINE! But for future reference… I don't own Inuyasha.

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time

Prologue- The End of an Era

__

Dec.31.2039 – New Years Anniversary Eve

Tokyo, Japan

Thousands of people and demons alike littered the streets of Tokyo, celebrating the coming of the New Year. It would mark the twentieth anniversary of global peace finally having become a reality. Cities around the world were all holding celebrations, and this one was no different.

Many of the residents could be found cheering in Tokyo's city square as the New Year ticked closer. The city-square was a large, circular area that could accommodate at least two thirds of the city at any given time. Set up around the perimeter was five stages. Each stage held a performing group. Although each band played at the same time, the enclosure was so spacious that the people could clearly hear whichever band they were listening to. 

In the centre of the large space was a tall tower. This was the Peace Tower that had been built nineteen years beforehand. The Peace Tower steadily became more and more narrow as it neared the top, finally ending in a point. Around the peak of the monumental structure was a large glowing red ball. Around the base of the minaret, one could make out a thin line that encircled the tower. This was the platform that, when activated, lowered the tower into the ground for storage. It was only brought out for the New Years Anniversary to celebrate peace and to remember those who had given up their lives to achieve it.

Occasionally, people would turn around from their attraction and take a peek at the tower. Embedded within the ball was a large clock that displayed the minutes and seconds before midnight. That was when the real show would begin. 

Over the past years, the fireworks spectacles of Tokyo City had been the best of the world, rivalled only by those in New York City. Cameras were directed at the sky to capture the images and send them to televisions and computers all around the globe, but the real magic was seeing it for oneself. However, whether it was in front of a screen or below the real thing, not many people missed the New Years Anniversary celebrations. 

As the clock ticked down to five minutes, there were several whoops from the crowd as well as whistles. Not only Japanese faces were found among the people, but people of every nation and stature. Nationalities were no longer an issue amid the people, for it was recognised that everybody was equal, no matter what the skin colour, religion, type, or sex. 

Most of the assembly wore red in remembrance of the red blood of soldiers that had been shed before and during the Peace Wars, and many also had blue ribbons pinned to the fronts of their shirts. 

The Peace Wars had been the last series of battles fought in an effort to defend the world from terrorists that wished to disrupt the earth. Demons and humans had banded together to form the Alliance and had successfully defeated the Terrorists. After a few minor disputes, the people of earth slowly came to recognise harmony. However, many lives had been lost due to the warfare, and the bodies had all been returned to their families, while a remembrance site had been set up in Washington state in the United States of America. 

When the clock finally reached one minute, all five bands stopped playing, and all attention was focused on the red ball at the top of the Peace Tower in Tokyo. The seconds winded down and the crowd murmured excitedly in anticipation of an even better light show than the ones of the past years. Some began the countdown early, but others waited. When the seconds hit ten, the crowd counted as one. 

They had a feeling that something exciting would happen this year. 

They just didn't know how right they were.

"10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5."

Somebody in the throng let out a loud whoop of laughter.

"4."

Small fireworks were set off by individual troublemakers.

"3."

The sparks slowly faded away from the sky.

"2."

The crowd tensed as the last second came by.

"1."

When the digital numbers on the clock hit zero, as one, the people sucked in a tentative breath and the square was silent. 

Nothing happened.

Mutters and whispers broke out like a leaking hose among the assembled people. The hissing steadily grew louder as the bewildered people discussed the situation with their neighbours. Even those who had organised the event looked about in confusion, and those in charge of the fireworks display checked the equipment. 

They could find nothing wrong.

The mayor of the city quickly stepped up to a podium and cleared his throat at a microphone. Attention flew to him and the whispers decreased to a lower volume.

"Well, there seems to be a-"

The mayor was cut off, and suddenly, all the lights went out.

The phone lines went dead, and everything that ran on electricity broke down.

The people were in complete and utter darkness. 

And although those in Tokyo did not know it, the same was happening all around the earth. 

Hisses once again broke out, and increased in volume when someone abruptly shouted above the clamouring of the crowd.

"Look at the sky! Where's the moon?"

And all heads turned upwards to discover that, there was indeed, no moon lighting up the darkness. Alarmed voices rose in volume. It wasn't the new moon, contrary to that, this night was the night of the full moon! Was something blocking the moon's glow?

Officials rushed here and there, but without electricity to help them light the area, they constantly bumped into random people of the crowd. Those who tried using their cellular phones discovered that they did not work. All communications services had stopped working. 

The people of earth were cut off from each other.

Another cry soon tore above the clamour of the assembly.

"The sky-! There's something there!"

Again, heads whipped up to gaze at the night air, and discovered, that indeed, there _was_ something up there. It appeared as only a small bluish yellow dot that was quickly growing larger. Some breathed sighs of relief, and exclaimed that the entire thing had been a part of the show. 

But sighs of relief soon turned to screams of horror as the 'thing' proved to be a giant vessel that was surrounded by flames. It was growing larger by the second, and was bound to collide with the earth. People frantically scrambled out of the final destination of the craft, caring only about their own lives. Soon, the vessel was close enough that everybody could feel the head radiating off of it.

With a loud boom, the black lump finally smashed into the northern section of city-square, destroying the stage, and squashing the many unfortunate people. Fresh howls of terror and pain cut through the night sky as the craft slid several feet, demolishing everything in its path. It finally rested to a stop at the foot of the Peace Tower, which, thankfully, had not been damaged.

Miraculously, the vessel had not broken to pieces, but was only smoking, and had dents in a few places. Upon closer inspection, the crowd discovered that the 'lump' was actually hollow, and that it was made of a strong black metal unknown to man.

Unbeknownst to the people in Japan, the same event was happening to points all over the globe.

New York City. Toronto. Beijing. Sydney. Montreal. Washington D.C. Vancouver. Paris. Stockholm. London.

All around the earth, black meteorites were crashing into the ground.

Out of nowhere, a thin line of light shaped out a rectangular figure on the side of the vessel, and the metal slice smoothly came out, hinged on the bottom edge. Extending to the ground, the 'door' became a path leading directly to the interior of the ship. There was a pause in the noise, and a few of the more curious adolescents advanced slowly towards the path.

Becoming bold, a young bear demon stepped onto the metal and turned around, grinning foolishly and raising his arms. A red beam of light suddenly shot into his body from within the craft, and the look of triumph was replaced by surprise, which quickly distorted to pain before the boy fell forward to land onto the pathway. 

In his back was a cleanly rounded hole that was still smoking.

A shocked silence passed through the crowd. 

Then, mindfulness was drawn away from the body and back towards the light as loud footsteps emitted from within. A figure emerged, that was vaguely humanoid. 

However, as this being exited the craft, it was clear it was definitely not human. It had two arms and two legs, but the neck was elongated to easily five times the length of that of a normal human. The head was abnormally (at least to us) large, and the easily distinguishable brain was double the size of a human being's. Eyes the size of tennis balls stared unblinkingly at the audience. At the fingertips, there were holes, and suction pad-like growths on the palms. 

At first glance, one would have been inclined to laugh, and many did, but they all dropped dead at the point of a finger. 

A finger that shot out deadly beams of highly concentrated light. 

Several people had already been killed by just one of these creatures.

And when an entire army of thousands stepped out of the ship, the people of this world knew they were in trouble.

Screams filled the air as a slaughter began.

Earth would never the same again.

The world as we know it had ended.

And a new age would soon begin.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[All right! A new story! 

This story will actually spread across a spectrum of genres, but the two major ones are Sci-fi and Romance, although Action/Adventure, and Fantasy will play somewhat large rolls as well.

This is the prologue that explains a little of the earth's history.

None of the Inuyasha characters were brought in yet, but you'll see them soon.

Keep in mind that his is a future fic, and a few themes may be familiar to some of you.

…

I once said that I would NEVER write a story with aliens taking over the world… so… cliché, no?

But then my friend suggested a sci-fi genre, and she seems to love sci-fi or supernatural settings, so we came up with this…?

Well, hopefully, this story won't be like the other 'alien takes over world, earthlings save world' plots out there, but it's going to be close! ^_^;;

I'm going to be working on the first chapter soon…

Till next time!]


	2. Chapter 01

~*Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Now start reading before I cry.

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time

[Eh. Thanks for the reviews!]
****

The Perfect World

Millions of demons and humans alike had been killed during the take over of the Superiors; however, the demons had been the ones that had suffered the most losses. 

The Superiors, as they called themselves, were an intelligent species that lived beyond the Milky Way in a far away galaxy. They were a dominant people that were ever looking to expand their empire. They had no leader, since their laws stated that all Superiors were above everybody else, yet equal among themselves. These peoples had advances in technology that Earth could only dream of achieving. They had spaceships that allowed for extremely rapid travel, and weapons that could blow up a small planet in one shot. 

Screw that, the Superiors themselves were like implements of war.

On and in their fingertips were guns that much resembled the ray guns that were used in human science-fiction movies. But these 'ray guns' were much more powerful. With just a point of one finger, one Superior could kill a full-grown demon, and just one Superior had ten of these weapons.

Taking advantage of being the most advanced species in the universe, the Superiors often journeyed to other galaxies and planets, only to conquer those they liked. They designed machines that were modelled after the major inhabitants of the planet, allowed them to keep their new pets under control. Only a small group of the Superiors ever stayed on one planet to oversee the operations. The others journeyed off to another area, never to return to that one planet.

There was never a need to.

The androids were designed with the ability of being able to keep any species under control, and took orders only from a Superior. 

Once a planet became a target of the Superiors, it was never free again.

Why did these intelligent creatures go about, capturing planet after planet?

That was yet unknown to those other than themselves.

The super intelligent species, having reached the Milky Way galaxy, had discovered that all the planets were barren and unpopulated; they were unable to support life.

Then they'd found Earth, the third planet from the sun.

Earth was a green and blue planet that had billions of life forms literally crawling over the surface. The ones that interested the Superiors the most were the humans and the demons. 

They had never seen any organism that was so familiar in body shape to themselves. The humans and demons had all the correct appendages, but they seemed so much weaker. They had expected an easy fight

They had been disappointed.

Tokyo was one of the few cities that had actually been moderately easy to take over. But in other places all over the world, the peoples there had put up an immense struggle. Many demons had transformed into their true forms, and the humans brought out weapons that had not been used for twenty years. Working together, the people of Earth were able kill hundreds of the invaders.

But that had not been enough. 

The Superiors, never having been opposed at such ferocity before, had redoubled their efforts of taking over the green planet. They had killed more people off than they had on other planets, and destroyed many cities. 

In a matter of a few hours, Earth had finally succumbed to the Superiors. 

The landmasses were divided into sectors, and the sectors into city-like colonies. 

The Superiors began an entirely new ruling system, and began breeding the humans and the demons.

It was the same routine for every planet.

Over the years, the rebellions had been few and far in between. They had been overly easy to break up.

But the great rebellion would soon be starting. A new chapter in history was being written.

And the Superiors would soon wish they had never messed with Earth.

__

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Feb.20.299 N(eo)A(ge)

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

Kagome shot up from bed, clutching the area above her rapidly beating heart. 

Frowning, the raven-haired girl quickly climbed out of bed, pulling on an issued robe made of synthetic fibre. Padding down the hallway of her shared house, she stepped into the kitchen and poured a glass of cool water from the kitchen tap that distributed regulated boiled water.

Once the drink had been consumed, the teenager returned to her small room and collapsed on her bed.

She'd had the dream again. 

There had been people and demons crowded in some area, all cheering for something. They had all been staring at a tall monument of some sort. Then, everything had gone black before something had crashed into the ground. Then, there had been people everywhere, all screaming, and running from non-human creatures. They had been picked off one by one.

But that was all she could remember. And even as she sat on her bed, the dream was slipping away like sand between her fingers. No matter how hard Kagome tried to grasp the ends, every time she had the reverie, it would leave only fragments of images behind, and never the whole picture.

But the pieces she did remember didn't match up with reality. 

In her dreams, the people had always been wearing different clothes with many vibrant colours. In today's world, everybody wore the same thing- grey work outfits with colour-coded armbands that showed which category and age group one belonged to. They wore the same clothing to increase equality. At least, that's what the Government told them. Only the androids wore different things. They were made of strong silver metal, and wore work suits. 

The androids were also colour coded, each colour specifying a specific function. Blue was for the teaching androids. Green for the transportation ones. Every colour of the spectrum was used in defining each android. Some had mundane jobs such as garbage collection. Others were made as basic law enforcers. 

Then there were the red androids. 

These were the ones equipped with the more powerful weaponry. 

Their job was to put out fires. 

Not the kind of fires where it was hot and burned things. 

These fires were the small outbursts of rebellions that happened every now and then. Once in a while, a small group of humans would decide to try and destroy some of the Government's property. The Red Androids would be called to annihilate the rebels. 

They could feel no emotion, and obeyed only the Government's orders. 

The Government. 

Nobody had ever seen the leader of this Government that maintained all of the people on earth. In school, the students had learned that when the Superiors had reached the planet, everything had been in ruins. They learned that the Superiors had assembled the humans that had been left and they had rebuilt the world. Grouping the separate areas into sectors, the Superiors had begun a New World that was designed to be perfect. They had modelled androids to keep the peace among the people of earth while they continued to save other planetary bodies.

The androids were all designed after a human body shape in order to retain perfection among the people. 

Perfection.

That was what today's world was about.

Everything had to be perfect, or it would be disposed of. Meals were designed specifically for each individual. Clothing was fitted. Every living quarter was exactly the same. And nobody was different.

In her dreams, there had been demons and humans standing together. In reality, they were kept in separate settlements. The humans had been told that demons were bloodthirsty savages that would do nothing but kill if they were exposed to the humans. However, in Kagome's dreams, the demons had been laughing with the humans, even playing with them- before disaster struck.

Kagome had often wondered, were her dreams real? They went against everything the Government upheld, and maintained. The strange world was certainly not perfect, since nobody appeared to be unified. Everybody was different, and perhaps that was what had caused the peoples' demise?

Her dreams.

Ever since she was small, Kagome had been having strange dreams about a strange world that looked so much like her own. When she'd told her mother, the elder woman had simply brushed it off to a wild imagination. When the teenager had been but a child, her dreams had been less frequent, starting at the tender age of five, and occurring only once every few nights. However, as she grew older, the fantasies became more recurrent, until they were happening at least one, or even twice a week. 

The themes of the reveries had changed as well. 

When before, they had been only pleasant images of another life; they were now violent, depicting a doomed people. There was a period in her second year of entering the student settlement where all of the dreams had involved violence and warfare. 

It had been terrifying to watch. 

And Kagome couldn't have told anybody. 

Her friends, loyal and close as they were, would think her crazy for imagining these things. All of the mature figures in her life were connected to the Government, and if she made any attempt to describe her visions to one of them, she would have been eliminated for her un-unified thoughts. 

Thankfully, the intensity of the night-time images had faded away, and the war had shifted to more pleasant themes. The girl had also gotten used to them, and even anticipated the dreams on certain nights.

But every time they happened- and they were frequent, she would never be able to remember any of it. No matter how hard Kagome tried, all she could do was grasp at the ends of the disappearing visions.

Shaking her head of all of the confusing thoughts, the girl laid back in her stiff bed. Glancing at the clock at her bedside, Kagome discovered that she still had two hours before school started. She was still two hours short of the required eight-hour sleep every seventeen-year-old had to have.

School started at 7:00 every morning. 

The teenager sighed. 

Every day was the same.

She wished that, just for once, something interesting would happen. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

New Tokyo, Demon Division, Sector 118 

Inuyasha glared at a white wall from where he was sitting on his bed. He had silver hair that was unusually long, and fell down to his waist. He wore fitted a grey outfit with a blue armband. The boy was in a worse mood than usual tonight. It was late, only two hours before school would start, and he was still awake.

It didn't matter. 

He didn't need much sleep anyway. 

He had demon blood in him, and he lived in one of the largest settlements in New Tokyo. The dog demon, no, half-dog demon, lived in the demon division of the city, where no human could venture without suffering the consequences. 

And the consequences were drastic.

One of the white dog-ears perched on his head flicked absently while a thoughtful frown took over the boy's face.

His ears.

They marked him as what he really was.

A half demon, or 'hanyou', as Inuyasha was so often called.

Not human, and not demon either, but a mix of both.

His blood was not pure.

He was not perfect.

He was something that went directly against the law of the Government. Humans and demons were to stay separated. Any contact between the two species was forbidden. They were meant to be kept apart, for being together was what had destroyed the earth the first time. At least, that's what the demons students had learned. In fact, if he were any other dirty half-breed, Inuyasha would have been killed at birth.

But he wasn't just any ordinary half-breed.

He was the son of Inutaisho, who had been one of the most reputed demon ambassadors in the Government. 

His half-brother was Sesshoumaru, the one who had taken Inutaisho's position once he had died. 

Inuyasha was too important to be killed. 

Oh, but how the Government despised him.

If he made one mistake, be it only a small toe out of line, they hanyou would be hunted down immediately. There was no mistaking that, but it just wasn't his style to obey orders. Perhaps it was because he was the product of an illegal pairing, or it could have been because he had been subdued since the day he was born, but Inuyasha always had a desire to cause trouble. 

To blemish the so-called perfect world of the Superiors. 

The dog-eared boy snorted.

Sesshoumaru had been the product of Inutaisho and his chosen female counterpart's relations. Not soon after the female dog demon had died, the ambassador had stumbled upon a woman upon the streets on the demon division. 

She'd had long, black hair, and a face that most would have died for. She was kind, but appeared to be quite poor. Her grey clothes had been torn and blood stained much of the cloth. There had been several cuts across her slim body. How she had gotten the wounds was a mystery. But most astonishing off all, she was a human. 

Nobody knew how she had ended up on the streets of the Demon Division. Nobody knew how she had crossed the 'uncrossable' barrier. All that mattered was that she had gone where no human had gone since the beginning of the Neo Age. 

Somehow, Inutaisho had smuggled her into his home, and had hid her for many years. He had discovered her name to be Izayoi. Nobody knew of her history. She had been kind and polite, despite never having seen a demon in her life. She had fallen in love with him, and him with her.

The great dog demon had taken her as his mate, going as far as producing a child with the human Izayoi.

Then the human woman had finally been found, and killed.

Yet nobody knew where or even how she had been hidden during her stay in the Demon Division.

The child, a half-demon by the name of Inuyasha, had lost his mother, the only link to the humanity that flowed in his blood.

They had spared the life of the child due to Inutaisho's prestigious title and persuasion, but keeping him alive was like a punishment in itself. Demons avoided him like the plague, and his damn half-brother looked down upon him. He was prohibited from the Human Division. Inuyasha was constantly picked on, and the androids did nothing to stop them, even though they had been created to promote and keep the peace and equality.

Equality his ass.

If the world was so equal, then why couldn't the demons mingle with the humans?

If the world was so peaceful, then why were the androids equipped with any number of built-in weapons, yet the public was defenceless?

Well… that wasn't entirely true- the public wasn't so 'defenceless.' 

At least, not the demons. 

They had the natural weapons that they had been born with. Inuyasha figured that was partially the reason why there were so few demons compared to the human population statistics. Demons were a lot more dangerous than a few puny humans were. 

Sometimes, Inuyasha wondered what the human side was like. But he got a taste of being human once every month. He became human during the night of the new moon. 

But nobody knew that.

Not even Sesshoumaru. 

Nor the Government.

He made sure of that.

The teenager had to keep it a secret- his life depended on it. On that one night, all of his senses faded. His claws were dulled, and his hair would turn black. He would be vulnerable. So every night of the new moon, he would keep himself shut up in his room in the student settlement, making sure to give no indications of his weakness.

The seventeen-year-old boy sighed and sunk into his bed, throwing off his grey daytime uniform. He never bothered with the night clothing, and just slept topless in his boxer shorts.

Normally, he could go without rest for several nights, but tonight, he was a little tired. 

And not just in the physical sense.

He was tired of the routine life he had.

He just wanted something a little more interesting to happen.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[So, Inu and Kag have been introduced. This chappie was a little slow, but the story should pick up soon… I hope. One of the things about writing a story set in the future is that you have to describe everything. But once everything is cleared up, there should be more momentum to keep me typing away…]


	3. Chapter 02

~*Disclaimer: Now, if I owned Inuyasha, do you think I'd be writing FANfiction? I didn't think so.

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time.

Arising Unease 

_Feb.21.299 NA_

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

The early rays of the sun entered through a small window into a settlement, and landed upon a lump in the middle of a blanket. The lump irritably attempted to brush away the interference, but to no avail. So it tried to pull the covers tighter over its head. 

Endeavor successful, the human sized lump stilled once again, trying to catch some more shuteye.

Just then, an alarm clock started ringing, and a teenage girl emerged, defeated, from the lump. Her long black hair flew in different directions and her ocean blue eyes were half lidded in morning grogginess. She started to drag herself out of the stiff bed. Having misjudged the distance to the edge of the bed, Kagome found herself sitting in mid air, and fell to the floor with a thump and a yelp. 

Cursing the early rising of the sun and the Government designed alarm clocks, the droopy-eyed teenager rose from the floor. Walking over to a small sliding door to the right of the area leading the bathroom, she sighed and pulled off her nightclothes. Opening her small closet, the girl stared dully at the selection. A sea of grey greeted her sea-blue eyes.

"Let's see. Will it be this grey suit with the blue armband or that one?" Kagome remarked nebulously.

Sighing yet again, Kagome picked any random suit out of the closet- they were all the same, anyway. She slowly pulled on each article of clothing. 

Not for the first time, the teenager wished that she could wear something other than grey. It was the same thing every single day. Everybody she ever saw wore the same clothes every day! Nobody else she knew had any problems with dressing up in the same thing constantly. They were all content to wear what they were given, and to do what they were told. But maybe the reason for that, was the fact that the grey articles of clothing were the only things that the humans had ever seen, apart from those of the androids. 

They didn't have the dreams that Kagome had.

They hadn't seen the vision of another world that she saw weekly. 

And even though she knew that her dreams went against everything the New World stood for, the girl couldn't help but wish that she could be a part of them.

Finally finishing dressing, she stretched. Heading toward the door that separated her from her housemates. Kagome opened it and was greeted by an unusually empty hallway.

How exciting.

Checking her wristwatch, the schoolgirl yelped in surprise and quickly scrambled down the hallway, all signs of weariness gone. She had spent more time than usual in her room, dressing and daydreaming at the same time for fifteen minutes. That left only ten for her to pop down an instant breakfast, and run to school. Luckily, the facility wasn't too far from her house, thanks to the planning done by the Government to ensure that each school was surrounded by the settlements. That, and the fact that she used the public transportation provided by the bureaucracy.

Up until the age of thirteen, children were brought up in their family units, which always consisted of two parents and two children. Once they turned thirteen, the children were taken away from the homes and brought to the student settlements. There, they would spend the next six years of their life, with others of the same age. The dormitories were co-ed, and the people you lived with were also your classmates in school. 

Kagome herself had been raised with a little nine-year-old brother. Their father had died when she was only eight, and so her mother had been assigned another counterpart to complete the family unit. In all probability, Kagome would probably never see her little brother or mother again, since New Tokyo was a large city. There was also the fact that the Government had designed for the process to be so that the children would eventually become dependent of their families, and could advance to the adult stage. 

In many aspects, their lives were pre-decided for them by the administration.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was third period.

Japanese literature.

She had arrived at school just in time for the first period- the science of anatomy. 

The school day was divided up into eight periods and one lunch hour. It started at 7:00 am sharp, and the periods were fifty minutes long. After 3 hours and 20 straight minutes of learning, there was a one hour break for lunch, and then it was back to the books. The only advantage, if one could call it that, was that school let out at 2:40 pm, giving them time to get in some recreational activities, and to finish their homework assignments.

The raven-haired girl stared listlessly at the teacher as she went on about the different types of literature that were written by the Superiors, and how lucky New Tokyo was that the books had been translated into Japanese for the public to read. 

Japanese literature class was the same every day. 

Their literature teacher was a blue android that repeated the same lecture everyday, just to hammer the information into the students' heads. There was never any mention of the books that had existed before the Neo Age, and nobody ever dared to question the education system. 

"10031! Pay attention to class!"

Kagome started as she heard her permanent code being called, and nodded quickly. 

"Yes! Of Course!"

She had gotten to school at the ring of the first bell, which was a relief. Everyday, the students would slide their personal identification card through the attendance when they entered school. This would keep track of the attendance record, and how the person would benefit the community once they were older. Depending on the students' performance in school, the Government would choose what career would best fit them. There were jobs that were unable to be performed by the androids, such as doctoring and nursing others. 

If the person proved to be unbeneficial to the society, they were disposed of.

Permanently. 

Nobody knew exactly what happened to those unfortunate people.

It was just public knowledge that they were never seen again.

There were rumours that they were pushed into the demon side, and that they had been devoured. 

Nobody wished for that to happen to themselves.

So they tried as hard as they could to excel in school. 

Their lives and livelihoods depended on it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kagome breathed a sigh of relief as the period bell rang, and she hurriedly picked up her items. Moving to join her friends, the girl waved to several of her classmates. Yuka, Ayumi, and Eri were waiting for her in the doorway. Over the past four years, these three girls had become like sisters to Kagome, and although they proved to be a little nosy at times, they had always been there for her, and her for them. When she caught up to them, the trio immediately started asking questions. 

"So, Kagome-chan, where were you this morning?"

"Yeah, we couldn't find you during the breakfast call- did you oversleep again?"

"I can't believe it! You were almost late for school! The perfect student!"

"I'll bet Houjo-kun wants to talk to you again." Remarked Eri.

This shut the other two up for a moment before they grinned and turned on Kagome.

"Yeah, Kagome! Houjo-kun was looking for you!"

"So, do you think he'll be your assigned counterpart?"

"Oh! I'd be SO jealous if he was!"

"I know! He's cutest boy in the entire school!"

"He's SO handsome!"

"And athletic!"

"And smart!"

"Don't forget he's so… dreamy!"

Her friends were good people, but at times like this, they could a little… nosy. 

Especially if it concerned her relationships with the male population of the school.

But it was one of the reasons why she loved them so much.

Houjo was a student at the learning facility who was in one of the more advanced classes. It was a well-known fact that he had a crush on Kagome. He was smart, athletic, handsome, _and_ he was the perfect gentleman. It had always been a mystery to the girl how one as popular as Houjo could like her. Kagome would have been attracted to him if he weren't so unbearably… dull. 

And dense. 

Her life was boring enough as it was. She didn't need another factor increasing that.

Her mind on the topic, the girl ambiguously wondered about who would be assigned to be her partner.

The Government based the counterpart assignment on a person's statistics. 

Those who were most likely to move into one career field was paired with another who had the same interests as their assigned partner. Not only the compatibility of the personalities of the people were analysed. The DNA strands of the pair were compared with each other to ensure that the match would produce the best offspring possible. 

For the most part, a person was assigned a pairing at the age of seventeen or eighteen. The two would meet, and then spend free time together for the Government to monitor the progress. If the couple proved to be compatible, they were moved into a more private settlement with the objective of mating and ultimately producing offspring. Once the twosome completed school, they were given their jobs, and whisked off to a permanent living quarter to be with their counterpart. 

Some remained undecided until they were much older. 

Others were never given partners due to some psycological or physical condition that would prove a match to be unsuccessful. Those people were shoved into community settlements that were much like the student ones. 

Most of the time, the matches had never met before, but there was the very slight possibility that they went to the same school, or lived in the same area. 

Humans were matched with humans and demons with demons.

That was an unspoken rule.

On the way through the hallways, Kagome pretended to listen to her friends' blabbering and nodded at a few choice intervals. Finally reaching the history classroom, the girls split up and headed for their allotted seats. After waiting for the class to settle down, the history teacher stood up.

The history teacher was one of the rare human teachers in New Tokyo. Perhaps one would have thought that she was better than the monotone androids, but that was not particularly true. Urasue, which was the teacher's name, was as expressionless as the Government made androids, and had large, bulging eyes. She never seemed to blink, and whenever a student became the victim of her penetrating gaze, they would become nervous and edgy. Her figure was large, and she had not been assigned a counterpart. 

Some say that was because of her almost psychotic nature.

Despite the teacher's disposition, the history of Earth was one of the few subjects that Kagome was interested in. She loved to learn about how things came to be, even if some of the lessons seemed to be a little too far-fetched to be real. Today's lesson would be a review of the beginning of the Neo Age, explaining how the Superiors had found Earth to be a waste land, and brought it to prosperity.

This was one of the points that confused Kagome. 

If the world had truly been found as a wasteland, then why had the Superiors bothered trying to help the people? Why didn't they leave when that their work was done, and let the humans to their own devices? Perhaps the girl questioned her origins because even though science class had taught her that earth was billions of years old, the Neo Age only extended to 299 years before the present. 

What had the world been like before the New World had been formed?

"Any questions?" 

The cracked voice of Urasue broke into Kaogme's thoughts, and the girl realised that she had missed the entire lesson. It didn't really matter though- she knew all of it by heart. She was, after all, one of the top students, and the most likely to be granted a good career by the Government.

The teacher was about to continue with assigning the homework when a hand did shoot into the air. She raised her saclike eyes to the student. She met the teacher's gaze unflinchingly.

"Yes… 12884?"

A girl with hair held in place at the back of her head by a ribbon stood up. Kagome recognised her to be Nazuna, someone who had been orphaned at birth. 

How her parents had died, though, had been a mystery.

"It's Nazuna, and, I was just wondering, what was the world like before the Neo Age?"

Kagome blinked in surprise at the girl. She had voiced the very same questions that had been swirling around her own head. Not one student had ever questioned Urasue about the history of the earth since all of her resources were from the Government, and nobody ever challenged the government. 

Urasue looked expressionlessly at the girl.

"What do you mean, 12884? Perhaps you wish to learn about the history of the Superiors? Perhaps you would like a private tutor android to be sent to your room after school is dismissed?" She was obviously trying to avoid answering the question.

Nazuna stood firm.

"I'm just curious- how was life before the Superiors came to earth? Was it better than how it is now? Were humans and demons allowed to live together? Because I've been doing some research on the history of our planet, and some of the points just don't connect."

Whispers broke out through the room, as the peers exchanged their opinions about the bold girl.

Urasue's face tightened and she glared at the calm faced girl.

"Sit down." Her retort was sharp. "There is no life better than the one we have now. This world is perfect, thanks to the Superiors and our own Government. Had they not come and rescued this planet, none of us would have been here today. Now be quiet."

She then turned her back to the class and resumed writing on the blackboard.

However, the students looked at each other questioningly. Nazuna's question and Urasue's abrupt answer had raised a few brows. A few whispers flew around the room, while the history teacher pretended to ignore them. Her stiff frame, however, was enough evidence that she had been angered by the inquiry.

Nobody noticed as, when she sat down, the pop-eyed teacher wrote a few notes down on a piece of paper. Urasue glared menacingly in Nazuna's general direction, and sealed the note with her teacher's seal. She then placed the message in a slot that was connected directly to the main office.

Trouble was definitely headed her way.

Kagome took no notice of this, nor did any of her classmates as she frowned thoughtfully at Ayumi, who had looked at her with a raised brow, and returned to her history textbook. She flipped to the next page and read on, not expecting to find anything that would answer her unvoiced questions.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At lunch hour, Kagome and her group of friends wandered into the cafeteria. It was a circular room with tables spread out around it. The serving station was at the top end of the cafeteria, directly across from the entrance. The room was spacious enough to accommodate half of the school's 1000 student population at any one time.

Quickly walking to the serving station, they checked their allotted lunches and quickly grabbed them, using their personal identification cards to confirm their identities. The meals were specifically designed for each individual to make up for any lack of nutrition, and to best supply the body with energy, but that didn't mean they tasted any good. Many considered their lunches to be horribly unpalatable. 

After they picked up their chow, the girls found an empty table, sitting down, one on each side of the dining table. They began to converse about the history lesson, much like many of the other students who had been in the same class.

"Urasue's answer was a little sketchy… wasn't it?" Ayumi questioned her friends.

Yuka quickly agreed. "Yeah. I just wonder why they won't tell us already." 

Eri glanced around the table and leaned inwards. She motioned for the others to lean in closer and they complied. 

"You know, maybe they're keeping something from us. Maybe they're lying about something."

Ayumi, quick to defend the Government, retorted quickly. 

"Well, guys, maybe they'll tell us in the future. We do live a pretty good life, you know. Everybody's equal, and as the Government says, the world is perfect as it is right now. There's no need for change." She smiled, somewhat unconvincingly, and continued. "After all, what really, do we need right now? Nothing!"

Kagome spoke up for the first time in the conversation.

"But is perfection such a good thing?" Her voice was quiet and considering.

"… What do you mean, Kagome-chan?"

She looked up from her meal of noodles.

"I mean, is life really good as it is? Sure, the Government designed the world to be perfect, but we aren't exactly free, you know what I mean? I'm just wondering how the world would be like if the Superiors just took their artificial androids and got off of Earth." Kagome's voice had grown harsher near the end of her remark.

The three friends gasped and Eri dropped her chopsticks, clapping a hand over a momentarily stunned Kagome's mouth.

"Don't speak like that!" She hissed, "Don't you remember the last time someone doubted the Government's plans? They were never heard from again! They disappeared! They were probably lead to the demon side to be devoured!"

Kagome tore her face away from the covering appendage and whispered angrily, "See what I mean? Do you really consider this to be freedom? We don't even have the privilage of free speech! We don't even know how the demons really are! All we have is the information the Government gives us! Can you really be certain that they're as bad as they seem?"

Yuka pursed her lips and looked worriedly at her friends. Eri was frowning, a rare expression on the normally happy girl's face, and Ayumi was biting her lip. There was a silence and the babble of the other students only made it more perceptible. 

Yuka was the first to break it.

"You may be right, Kagome-chan, but there really isn't anything we can do about that, right?" Her voice was almost pleading. "The Government controls the entire world. We're just a small group of students. What difference could we make? If we tried anything out of line, we'd be shot down! So, please, Kagome-chan, be a little more careful in what you say. We don't want to lose one of the group!"

Kagome settled back down to her meal and remained silent. Her friends exchanged worried expressions but remained quiet for once.

She picked listlessly at her noodles. She was right-Yuka was right. There really was nothing that a small group of students could do to defy a ruling power that had weapons of mass destruction at their disposal. 

There was nothing they could do to change the world they were in now.

Not in their current state.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In response to:

geckogirl33:

You were wondering if this was going to be Sess/Rin in this story?

Well, if it goes according to plan, then yes.

It'll actually be a pretty important factor… but that's going far ahead of myself. ~_^

[Chappie 2!

In case you were wondering, Urasue has nothing to do with anything at the moment. I just needed a name for a history teacher, searched through the Inuyasha characters, and came up with Urasue. 

She might make another appearance… 

Kaede will serve another role… 

Ugh. Can you just imagine that amount of straight studying, 4 subjects after another? *shudder*

Third chapter typing… It might not get done in while since I have a few things to do…]


	4. Chapter 03

~*Disclaimer: I've got … ninety dollars worth of bus tickets. (Don't ask.) You think that'll be enough to buy Inuyasha?

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time.

Divider __

Feb.22.299 NA

New Tokyo, Demon Division, Sector 118 

It was the same routine everyday.

Inuyasha would wake up later than everybody else at his student settlement, get dressed in fresh grey clothes, eat his instant breakfast alone, and run to school, arriving at just the last second. The teachers could do nothing to reprimand him when he slammed into class just as the final warning bell rang, since he had done nothing wrong.

When class started, the teenager would laze about, occasionally paying attention to the teacher. He only really listened when the lecture was about something new, or if a new simulator was being explained. In certain classes in which visual representations would be useful in teaching, such as history, there were virtual simulators in the classroom to enhance the learning procedure. 

They were really quite simple looking- long, black rectangular-like boxes that were large enough to accommodate one person. The floor inside of the simulator was mobile, able to give the user the ability to walk around the virtual world without crashing into the simulator walls. To see the virtual world, there were vision headsets that circled the back of the head and was set across the eyes. There were also built-in speakers along the sides that covered the ears. Not only did the students wear the earphones, the interior of the box was lined with individual speakers that gave the simulation a real life like environment. 

Motion sensor pads were required for the virtual character to be able to move with the real person. Some demons that had extra appendages, such as wings, were required to use specially designed simulators. 

Inuyasha actually liked the classes when the simulators were being used, but today's Japanese Literature lesson revolved around a lecture. Barely tuning in, he discovered that it was about the reading material produced during first year of the Neo Age, and quickly zoned out. He'd read about that many months ago. His eyes remained unfocused on the back of some turtle demon's head.

As he became more relaxed, memories began to play through his mind's eye. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A tall, black-haired woman was crouching before a white-haired child him, and she was smiling. He, however, was on the verge of tears.

'Mommy… I got a cut. It really hurts!'

'Aww, Inu-chan, let mommy see?' He held the offending finger out. 'Don't worry, see, it's not deep. Mommy will kiss and make it better!'

The child giggled as his mother placed a gentle kiss on the cut Almost instantly, the wound healed over, and the finger was as good as new. The little boy looked at his mother and smiled. 

'Look mommy! It doesn't hurt anymore!

She picked up her child and cradled him against her body.

"You see, little one, that's one of the advantages of having demon blood- you heal much faster than your mother does."

Inu-chan scrunched his nose.

"Are there others like you, mommy?"

"Yes. There are many humans, just like your mother, but they are all on the other side of the city." The woman smiled sadly. _'And I gave up that life when I took a demon lover…But as long as I have my child, it matters not.'_

The mother continued to hold the little boy, as he slowly fell asleep in the inviting warmth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Student 10243, please answer the question." The monotone voice of the android teacher broke into Inuyasha's stupor. 

He looked up, slightly disappointed, and a little angry. That had been one of the better memories of his mother, and the damn android had ruined it.

"What's the question?"

Several students snickered at the half-demon's lack of attention, thinking he wouldn't be able to answer it. Most of the full blooded demons themselves didn't know the answer.

"Who was the first demon to write a book that was accepted into the Government's teaching literature list? And in what year to this demon write it?"

__

"The half-breed probably doesn't even know how to read, how would he know who wrote the books?…"

"Why bother teaching him_ anything? It's no use, anyway…"_

Ignoring the nasty whispers, Inuyasha stood up and responded calmly with an even exterior, even though he was almost shaking with rage on the inside.

"It was Omaro, a boar demons, permanent number 94870 in the year 26 of the Neo Age."

"Correct, stud-"

Inuyasha continued without acknowledging the android.

"And his first book was called 'A Life in Our World' that was focused on all the advantages of the lifestyle in New Tokyo. It was first published in the year 27, after which the Government brought it into the educational library. Omaro wrote two other books, and after he finished his third, became ill and died."

Taken by surprise at his lengthened answer, the whispering of the students abruptly stopped. The room was silent, while the android nodded its metal head.

"Correct, student 10243."

The boy sat down. 

The android resumed its lecture.

And Inuyasha went back to daydreaming, ignoring the dirty looks.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

During the lunch hour, the dog-eared half demon would sit at a table by himself, his dark gaze daring anybody to approach him. Most everybody steered clear from him, knowing what his status was, and why he had a larger room than everybody else. 

Although everybody was equal, some were just more equal than the others were.

He was one of the more equal ones.

He was protected by his reputation.

But they still talked about him. 

And he could hear the whispers. 

The appendages atop his head weren't just for show- they provided Inuyasha with better hearing than many of the lower levelled demons and some of the higher ones as well. Sometimes, one of the braver students would throw an insult at the half-breed. He'd just flip them off when the androids weren't watching- obscene gestures were not allowed in a perfect world.

He hated it. 

He hated his life in the student settlement.

Hell, he hated his life, period.

But he had grown used to it.

After all, spending four years in the place was enough to dull the experience. 

Today was no different. 

Inuyasha had actually slept for the entire night yesterday. As a result, he was now feeling more energised than usual, and actually paid a little attention in class. 

Note the keyword: a little.

It wasn't that Inuyasha was a bad student. On the contrary, he achieved some of the highest grades on the final term tests every year. He just learned differently than others. Once something wormed its way into his head, he rarely forgot it.

In that way, the dog half demon was much like his sire and sibling. 

Not that he'd ever admit to it, of course. 

The other students hated him for being who he was. They couldn't take the fact that a half-breed who had 'primitive' human blood in him could take the top scores in school. They couldn't take it that whenever they threw insults at him, they would bounce off, and the freak would just continue what he was doing without so much as a flinch. They couldn't take his cool attitude when he should have been bowing to their superiority in blood.

So that made them dislike him more.

And Inuyasha knew that they did.

But he took no notice.

Let them hate him.

He didn't care.

Not at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Glancing at his watch, the half demon silently counted down the seconds to the end of the school day. The second hand was ticking closer… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1

As soon as the final bell rang, he sprung out of his seat, gathered his things, and was out of the classroom faster than anybody else. 

Sliding his personal identification card across one of the many attendance slots, Inuyasha sprung through the doors of the large education facility, and jogged away at a leisurely speed. Dropping off his belongings at his small room in the student settlement, the half-demon began walking away from the student settlements.

What did he do with his spare time?

Why, brood, of course.

What else could he do?

He had no friends.

He was separated from his only living family, a full-blooded dog demon, who, as Inuyasha suspected, disliked him to the point of hatred for tainting the family blood.

The only reason he hadn't died at Sesshoumaru's claws was because killing was against the rules, and the elder dog demon did have an image to protect. As one of the ambassadors of the Demon Division in New Tokyo, Sesshoumaru lived in one of the luxurious suits designed for government officials. His job was to monitor the activities of the demons, and occasionally file reports. 

Sometimes, meetings were held to discuss the progress of the Sectors.

The progress of what, Inuyasha didn't know.

The only people who had treated him like a real person had been his mother and father.

Everybody else either ridiculed him, or chose to ignore him.

Inuyasha had been alone since the day his mother had died. His father had been too busy with his job, and negotiating with the other Government officials about his half-human son. He could remember a few vague recollections of being with his mother when they had been hidden. 

He didn't know where they had hid.

He just knew the terror that had entered his heart when she had been taken away from him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The dog-eared boy trooped around the streets of the Demon Division of New Tokyo. 

All he could see were the settlements and the occasional school. 

The student settlements were round buildings with dome-like tops. They were all white, in contrast to the schools, which were made of a strange black concrete. They had all been built to be soundproof.

As he travelled further away from the education section of the town, the student settlements became fewer and fewer until only private residences remained. These were the houses in which the demons lived once they graduated. Depending on the career destination, they were assigned to different parts of the city.

The private residences were similar to the student settlements, only smaller, to accommodate for one family unit instead of several teenagers.

Sector 118 was an island off the coast of Sector 116. They had learned about the different sectors recently in geography class. New Tokyo covered nearly half of Sector 118's area. It was huge.

For those who had to travel from one place to another, the Government had designed travel stops. The travel stops were a form of public transportation that was operated by androids. The machines drove a large, expandable vehicle that ran on hydrogen. There were hundreds of stops located around the city.

Anybody who had to get from one point to another had to use the travel stops.

The possession of private vehicles was illegal.

However, Inuyasha rarely used the public transportation, for several reasons. For one, he never had to travel to far away places, since he was still a student. When he did decided to explore the city, the half demon preferred to use his own legs instead of relying on a machine. It wasn't that the Government vehicles were slow- they travelled by hovering over magnets, and could actually go at extremely fast speeds. It was just that he had never really trusted the androids. 

Not since his mother had been killed by a group of them.

Walking past the private residences, Inuyasha reached the business district.

This was where the demons travelled to for work.

There were hundreds of high rising buildings that one had to crane their neck to see. 

When a person graduated from the education program, they were given a job and a new house. Some were assigned their counterparts as well.

Inuyasha doubted he would be partnered with anybody.

The Government wanted to keep the demon bloodline as pure as possible, and consummating a relationship between a half demon and full-blooded demons would taint the purity of that blood. 

In a way, he was relieved. 

If he were forced to mate with an unwilling female, there were bound to be many arguments.

And although killing was against the 'rules', Inuyasha doubted that a set of regulations could keep an angry, full-blooded bitch from ending his life.

And he just wasn't ready for death.

He was close.

But he didn't hate his life to that point just yet.

Sometimes, Inuyasha wondered about how the human side was like. He wondered how humans really behaved, and whether they were similar to the demons or not.

He wondered if he would have been accepted by the humans.

Acceptance. 

That was the one thing he really wanted. 

He wanted to belong somewhere, to have a place to call a true home.

There had been one person who had been close to giving him that.

But then he'd discovered it had all been a lie; that she had been working for the Government all along.

He should have known. 

After all, humans weren't allowed in the Demon Division.

And she had been human.

He paused in his stride, and hastily directed his thoughts elsewhere. He didn't need images of _her_ popping up now.

He hated _her_ now.

The Government had told the students that the humans were an unintelligent species that were way below the demons on the evolutionary scale. They had been told that the two species could not live together because the difference in society would overwhelm the humans.

The half demon stopped at the border between the two Divisions and sat down, looking beyond it. This was where he spent the majority of his time, nowadays.

There really wasn't any visible divider. 

There was just a line where the business buildings abruptly stopped, and a narrow patch of grass covered land ran down the width of the city. Beyond the line, there appeared to be a wasteland that stretched on forever. However, if a demon tried to go past the strip of grass, they were shocked horribly. 

Literally.

When he had been a little younger. Inuyasha had watched as some of the older children had tried to run past the grass and into the Human Division. The first one, an eagle demon, had crossed the patch of grass, and he had grinned cockily at the rest. They had followed, planning to explore the new area before there was a sudden rumbling and the trio had been struck with some form of electricity before being thrown back into the Demon Division.

A group of androids had arrived, and they had carried off the three students without a word.

They had never been seen again.

The dog-eared boy believed that it was the lack of human blood that had triggered the silent alarm. But he couldn't be sure.

Almost unconsciously, his hand stretched out to touch the divider.

How he wanted to go beyond that invisible divider.

Only inches away from it, Inuyasha jumped back. His hand was shaking.

It was the same everyday. He would advance towards the divider, and then try and go past it. But every attempt had been cut short. He had a desire to see the humans, to be the first to enter the Human Division, and survive to make it back to the demon's side of town. To possibly find a place where he would finally be accepted. But every time, he would stop. And decide to try again the next day.

The half demon snorted, disgusted at his own cowardice. 

He was better than that.

He shouldn't have to be afraid of some group of androids and the Government that controlled the entire world.

He shouldn't have to be afraid of what would happen if he broke some stupid rules imposed by said ruling power.

He shouldn't have to be afraid of what his human blood would do to him one day.

He shouldn't have to be afraid of what would happen if he failed to cross the barrier.

He shouldn't have to be afraid of what would happen if he succeeded.

But he was.

And for good reason as well.

He didn't want to be the next victim of the Government

He wanted to live as long as he could, just to spite them. Just to make them know that their world was far from perfect.

Turning abruptly on his heel, Inuyasha stomped back towards the direction of his student settlement. 

He would be back tomorrow to try again.

He always was.

And one day, he would succeed.

He was damn sure of that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

In response to:

Safreil:

Revolt, you say? … You'll see… you'll see…

[The end of the chapter was interesting. I hadn't planned for it to happen but it did.]


	5. Chapter 04

~*Disclaimer: If I did own Inuyasha, I'd be so stinking rich, I'd be burning my cash. But alas, I don't and in burning my bills, I am only succeeding in ma- hey! No! My (non-existent) money!

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time.

~*Previously, on Lock Down:

{He would be back tomorrow to try again.

He always was.

And one day, he would succeed.

He was damn sure of that.}

****

Fire

__

Feb.25.299 NA

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

Kagome sighed as she trudged her way to school. The day was a dreary one, with ominous grey clouds covering the sky, blocking the sun's rays. It had been a perfectly fine day just a few minutes ago. But the sudden change in weather seemed to be signal an omen for a bad day. 

Turning a corner, the girl bit the inside of her cheek and thought about the past four days. 

Ever since Urasue had uncovered that bit of uncertainty that had been embedded deep within the minds of the students, there had been whispers, and evidently, the Government didn't like it. They had reinforced the rules, having even sent out a human official to explain to the students the importance of listening to the Government three days before. School had been paused to hold an assembly to discuss just that.

However, if that didn't work, the disappearance of Nazuna certainly shut the people up.

The day after the assembly, the girl who had asked the unorthodox questions hadn't shown up for class. That wasn't very unusual, since she could have contracted an illness, or anything. But when she wasn't spotted at the settlements, and she went missing for the second day, the students knew.

The Government had disposed of the inconvenience. 

The housemates of Nazuna had gone to her room, only to find it cleared of any evidence that someone had resided there previously. 

She would never be seen again.

Anger flared up in Kagome as her gait shifted to a furious stomp. 

How dare they!

How dare they just kill off anybody who asked a few questions!

Nazuna hadn't even done anything against the rules!

Was asking a few questions so wrong?

Well, evidently, it was. After all, curiosity killed the cat, right?

With her anger, a sudden pain rose through her body. The raven-haired girl groaned and rubbed her temples. For some reason, there a dull throbbing in her head that just wouldn't stop. The throb suddenly intensified to a furious pounding. She stopped walking, and held her head in her hands. The pain was almost unbearable, and Kagome felt as though her body was burning. 

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the pain stopped.

It just vanished, leaving a very confused girl.

A confused girl who looked at her watch and her mouth dropped in shock. The sudden spell of pain had delayed her for longer than she had thought- she was five minutes late for class!

She began to run desperately towards the school. Never, in her entire school career, had Kagome ever shown up late for a class. But it seemed that her perfect was now blemished, thanks to a few moments of pain. Hopefully, this wouldn't put too much of a black mark on her record. Even if she didn't like how the world worked, she still wanted a good job once she graduated from school.

The schoolgirl saw the top of the school rise up above all the other settlements, and breathed a sigh of relief. She cocked her head slightly and frowned thoughtfully. The school had always seemed much closer than this.

But on most other days, she used the public transportation to get from place to place. Today was an exception, since the morning had seemed so nice through her small window. She had decided to walk for once and take advantage of the good weather. 

Kagome scowled. 

That was before the clouds had covered the sun. Thankfully, the rain had yet to fall.

Still a distance away from the school, Kagome paused for breath. She bent double, gasping for air. The student was athletic, but even she got tired once in a while. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, the girl rested the palms of her hands on her thighs.

Suddenly, multiple alarms started blaring. 

Her head snapped up, and a look of horror filled her face.

There were speakers situated around the city that were occasionally used for public announcements. Only the Government had access to them, and rarely were they activated. 

However, this obviously was not a public announcement. 

Another occasion the speakers were used was to declare the emergency procedures. This particular alarm was used to announce the 'Lock Down' situation. When this happened, everybody was to leave the streets immediately, and lock all doors. The dark covers were all put over the windows, preventing anybody from seeing what was happening outside. The buildings had been made soundproof, so the people heard nothing. 

In Kagome's entire life, she had never encountered the Lock Down situation, but all the students were explicitly taught to follow the rules, and to never stay outdoors during an occasion that called for the Government to raise the alarms. There had been several simulations, and the virtual reality simulators had been used to illustrate the procedure. 

This proceeding was used to protect the general public from whatever event was happening on the streets.

Whether that was true or not, nobody knew.

Kagome glanced desperately around for any place to run into. She found herself in an alley like area.

That was just great. Of all places she could have been, she had to have run into an alley. 

Spotting a small crevice, the girl ran towards it, hoping that it would hide her from whatever was putting the city in danger. 

Hopefully, it would also hide her from the watchful eyes of the Government.

Curling up into a foetal position, Kagome peeked frighteningly out of her hiding hole, and nearly gave her position away by gasping.

The situation she got herself into was probably one of the worst ones that could have ever happened.

For marching in ranks, were dozens of androids.

And not just any type of androids.

They were red ones.

And everything clicked in Kagome's head.

The red androids were only sent out to douse out rebellion fires that sprung up now and then. The students had been taught that they were created to serve the people, and to protect them. But never, had anybody ever seen one, or a rebellion. The reason for that? They had all been shut up in their homes. Whenever a rebellion happened, the people cleared the streets, obeying orders. Perhaps the Government's reasons for the Lock Down procedure weren't as virtuous as they made everyone believe.

It was obvious that they wouldn't want anybody to get any ideas to rise up against them, so they forbade anybody from being outside during one. 

It looked liked Kagome would be the first to break that rule.

She watched as line after line marched past her place in the wall. This fire was probably a larger one for so many androids to have been sent out.

Then, they stopped, and the air was silent for a while. The girl could see the shiny polished metal that covered the faces of the androids. All of them were the same- the exact same eyes, the exact same facial features, the exact same body proportions. Everything was deadly quiet.

Before a chaos erupted.

The girl watched, fascinated, and with more than a little fear, as the fire-fighters suddenly charged forwards to a point that Kagome could not see. But she could hear the noises of combat. There were screeches of metal, and the distinct whining sound that signalled when an android was charging up its weapon. 

The longer the fight endured, the more Kagome's nerves became winded. She squeezed her eyes shut. Any second, she was expecting for one of the Government's instruments to spot her, and kill her. She refrained from making any sound, and from moving. Her breaths were shallow and far apart, her chest barely rising. The androids were programmed to destroy anything that moved, after all. 

Opening her blue eyes again, she saw, in astonishment, that the androids had been beaten back, somewhat. Now, several humans lined her sight, as they fired round after round at the robots. Their faces were half covered by blue clothes, and they wore the grey outfits. Most of the rebels had no armbands. 

The humans were using a strange tool that was created of a strange black metal. It seemed to shoot strong light rays that created small holes in the androids' armour when it hit them. For some reason, the weapons were vaguely familiar to the black-haired girl. 

Realisation coursed through Kagome, and her eyes widened. 

A few scenes flashed past her mind's eye. Scenes from one of the vivid dream she had once in a while.

The guns reminded Kagome of the same weapons that had killed thousands of people in her dream. 

Then, the scenes faded from her mind, much like the headache had, and Kagome was left, feeling a little disoriented. The noises had dimmed somewhat, signalling the coming end of the rebellion. She glanced back at the fire taking place, and saw that the androids had once again, gained ground. Her gaze dropped down to their feet, and she grimaced. 

Bodies decorated the floor, and blood ran freely. 

She had never seen a dead body before, but those people couldn't be anything but dead. Their eyes were lifeless, and the bodies were limp. A red metal foot descended on the chest of one corpse, and it sunk in, several cracks signalling the broken ribs. Blood oozed out a cut on the side of the abdomen, and Kagome felt suddenly sick.

She closed her eyes, and turned her eyes away from the bloodied scene. Only a few androids had fallen, yet dozens of human bodies littered had her view. 

Once all noise had stopped, and the clomping of the androids had faded into silence, Kagome braved herself to face the massacre. Waiting several seconds to make sure the battle truly was over, the girl drew in a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she couldn't stop the breath that escaped her lips in a gasp. Without the distracting movement of the androids, the view was free for the girl to see the outcome of the events that had transpired. She poked the top of her head out of the crevice.

There had been more bodies then she had assumed, and separate pieces of metals shined here and there. Almost directly in front of Kagome was one body that had been obliterated to the point of becoming unrecognisable. Through her fog-hazed mind, she vaguely wondered if anybody she knew had been involved in the rebellion. Obviously, none of the opposing force remained, and the scene was deadly still. Even the wind had stopped blowing, and the air was deceptively calm.

The air was laddened heavily with the stench of blood and death. The schoolgirl covered her nose and mouth with a shaking hand. She remained surprisingly calm. 

Kagome would have to move soon, since the cleaning crews were bound to arrive to clear the mess. What they would do with the bodies, she didn't know, and frankly, she didn't want to know. 

The girl stood, up, and discovered that her legs were still quivering from the sight she had witnessed. Her entire body trembled in fear. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to try and still herself.

Just as the black-haired teenager was about step out into the open, a series of thumping noises permeated through the silence. Kagome froze, and her mouth dropped open. Had the cleaning crews arrived already? 

But no.

There were too few footsteps. She shrunk back into the crack, and watched the narrow strip of view she was offered. 

The footsteps drew nearer, and they told her that there were at least two people. However, the gait of the second person was a little strange, almost as if it was walking on more than two legs.

She held her breath, and tensed in apprehension. The tip of a black boot entered her view.

Kagome was ready to bolt, if needed. Although she doubted it would do much good in running from armed androids…

The slim figure of a girl son followed, and Kagome's eyes widened in shock. 

This was one of the rebels! 

She had survived…!?

The body shape of the rebel was certainly female. Her clothes were clearly that of a human's- grey with a blue armband, like her own outfit. However, the girl's lower face was covered, leaving only her eyes to the open air. Magenta orbs glanced here and there, looking for any sign of life. Her hair was pulled into a long ponytail that swayed to and fro. Across her back was slung an rediculously large boomerang shaped… _thing_ that Kagome could only classify as a weapon.

Now that some of the information began to process, the schoolgirl discovered that the guns hadn't been the only weapons used by the rebels. In fact, there were many strange items that appeared to be extremely difficult to handle.

Turning her attention back to the lone rebel, Kagome was slightly surprised to see a sheen of sadness that coated the rebel's gaze as she looked around. The girl stopped before the body of a small boy, before her eyes widened, and she gasped in horror.

She fell to her knees, and with shaking hands, gently cradled the head of the small youth. Several tears glistened down the girl's cheeks. Kagome studied the body, and judging from the body frame, he couldn't have been more than eleven years of age. The girl's lips moved, and whispered words blew through the silence.

"Kohaku… no… Kohaku!"

The magenta-eyed girl hugged 'Kohaku's' body, and her body shook with silent sobs. Kagome didn't move from her position in her hiding spot, but her heart went out to the girl who was crying over the body of someone she had obviously cared a lot about. She was reminded again, that the rebels were human, and had feelings as well. They had loved ones who would miss them.

There was a small mew, and Kagome's attention was drawn to a small cat-like creature by the girl's side. Her mouth dropped wide open in complete, and utter shock at the demon, for demon it was. 

It most certainly couldn't have been a true cat- it had two tails! Kagome took in the creamish yellow hue of its body, and the two strips across its tails. Large red eyes observed the human and the dead boy sadly. The actions of this creature went against everything she had been taught. Demons were supposed be blood thirsty savages that hated humans- but this one was working with one!

The two-tailed cat nudged her mistress' hand, and mewed worriedly. A pink tongue flicked out and licked it, trying to comfort the girl. Its ears flicked, and evidently hearing something alarming, its mews became more urgent. The girl raised her head to glance at the demon. Understanding what her companion was saying, even if Kagome couldn't, she nodded sorrowfully, and stood up.

Suddenly, her posture was straight and erect, and Kagome was slightly surprised at the sudden change that had overcome the unknown rebel. She was once again, emotionless, and if it weren't for the red eyes, one wouldn't have believed her to be unable to feel anything.

She turned to the cat-demon.

"Let's go, Kirara." The girl's voice was weary, and sad. It was empty.

Kagome was in for yet another shock of her life, as "Kirara' was encased in flames, and what had formerly been a small cat transformed into a large demon at least six times the original size. This form was much more menacing. Long fangs protruded from the cat demon's mouth, and large red eyes scanned the suroundings. Flames encircled its feet, sigifying its control over fire. 

The rebel hopped onto the demon's back and patted its side. With one last longing look at the boy, Sango tightened her hold on the cat, and 'Kirara' jumped up, seeming to be running in the sky, as it flew into the distance. Kagome, all caution placed aside, hopped out of her hiding hole, and tried to locate the rebels, but they had disappeared. 

Looking around once more, at the death scene, Kagome walked slowly to the body of the small boy the girl had called 'Kohaku', and studied it. There was a round, neat hole directly over his hear. She had a feeling that the wound continued through his chest cavity, and out the other side. His hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and upon removing the covering, Kagome saw that his soft features were still that of an innocent young boy. Touching the now-cold face sadly, she bowed her head repectively, and backed away slowly from him. 

But then something sparkling caught her eye, and her hand reached out to study a strange circular medallion dangling from the boy's neck. It was made of a green stone that her class had studied, known as jade. It was carved, smoothed, and extremely beautiful. Kagome brought it closer to study the emblem inside of the circle of jade.

Suddenly, footsteps from far off echoed to her ears, and Kagome's head shot up. In the distance, she could just make out the cleaning crew that had just begun to arrive. The demon must have heard the noise before, and so carried its partner away from danger. 

Getting up from the ground, Kagome stumbled backwards, and began to run away from the death, and away from the danger. She headed straight towards her student settlement, avoiding the bodies, and the puddles of blood. The rain finally started to fall from the dreary skies. It pounded on the pavement, and had Kagome looked back, she would have seen the blood running together, staining more of the grey pavement. 

The streets were still empty of life. 

Nothing broke the silence except for the patter of the rain pounding on the asphalt, and the booms of thunder.

Clutched tightly within her right hand, was the medallion that she had unknowingly taken when the string holding it had broken. Kagome didn't dare turn back or stop, and by the time she reached her room, her legs were shaking from running so far, and her breath was coming short. 

Shakeningly sliding her Personal Identification card across the key slot, her door opened, and Kagome entered her dark room.

She sat down on the chair in front of the small desk next to the bed. The rain pounded on the window of her small room, and the student discarded her clothes. 

The clothes that were stained with the blood splatters of humans who had been slaughtered.

Picking it up, Kagome stared at her top without seeing it. Right in the middle of the front, was a large splotch of blood that had belonged to some rebel or another. The shirt dropped to the ground, and the girl was left staring beyond her hand. 

Her eyes focused, and a wave of nausea washed over her. 

Blood. 

Her hand was covered in blood.

The blood of that little boy.

The youth who'd been killed with his comrades.

The boy who had been too young to die.

Kagome ran into her personal bathroom, and threw up into the porceline toilet. She continued to retch even when her stomach was empty, drawing up nothing but digestive fluids. Her eyes burned with tears as the memories continued to flash.

She had seen a fire, and it was truly horrible. 

There had been so many lifeless eyes.

So many unmoving bodies

And that girl- she wondered if there were anymore like her, who had watched as their comrades died, yet could do nothing to stop the bloodshed.

She never wanted to see death again.

Wiping her mouth, the girl tore off her remaining clothing and stepped into her small shower. Turning on the water, she waited until it was scorching hot before furiously scrubbing at her skin with ample amounts of soap. Kagome rubbed until her entire body was red from the heat and cleaning. 

She turned off the water, and stepped out of the enclosement. She furiously rubbed herself down with one of the rough towels. 

But it didn't go away.

That disgusted feeling.

She could still see the blood where it had been on her body.

She shifted her gaze to the medallion clutched in her hand. It seemed to glow an eerie green.

It had been that boy's. 

Stifling a sob, the teenager pulled on the black night clothes with shaking hands. She then dragged herself to her bed and collapsed on it. 

The events that she had witnessed finally fully processed through her shell shocked mind, and the girl buried her face into her pillow. Her sobs and cries were muffled by the cushion, as Kagome let out all of her frustration, terror, and all of her overwhelming emotions.

A white hand still gripped onto the jade medallion. It suddenly pulsed with an otherwordly glow, and then faded back to its original lustre. Almost in answer, there was a pulsing light from within the seventeen-year-old's body. With each sob, the light throbbed harder, and the air seemed to sparkle and crack with power.

Then, the pulses slowly faded away as her energy began to wane, and the girl got better control of her emotions.

But Kagome failed to notice this, as she lay in her bed, crying softly.

And outside, the rain continued to fall and thunder rang out through the sky, mirroring the girl's distress.

She had asked for something interesting to happen and it had.

What a horrible day it had been indeed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[I'd been looking forward to writing this chapter, so it came out faster than usual.

… What? I like… making the character suffer? ^_^;;

The action scenes were a little more descriptive than I had planned, but less descriptive than I would have liked.

Confused?

So am I.]


	6. Chapter 05

~*Disclaimer: After conducting many inquiries and doing a lot of research, I have reached a startling conclusion. 

I DON'T OWN INUYASHA!

Heh. Wasn't that a surprise?

"…"- speech

'…'- thoughts

~*~*~- change in scenery or time.

~*Previously, on Lock Down:

{But Kagome failed to notice this, as she lay in her bed, crying softly.

And outside, the rain continued to fall and thunder rang out through the sky, mirroring the girl's distress.

She had asked for something interesting to happen and it had.

What a horrible day it had been indeed.}

****

The System

__

Feb.25.299 NA

New Tokyo, Government Buildings, Sector 118 

"How could this have happened?" The speaker was an android- one of the Government officials.

After the Fire that had taken place earlier that day, a meeting had been called in the Government buildings of New Tokyo to discuss the fighting spirit of the people. The meeting room itself was a small, circular area with a rectangular table in the middle. It was made out of a black metal that was foreign to earth. The walls were a plain, white colour that seemed to illuminate the area despite the low lighting.

Assembled around the long metal table were several Ambassadors of both the human and demons sectors. This was the only place where the two species were allowed to interact. Being an Ambassador was the only way to actually see the other people they shared the planet with. In total, there were six representatives of the 'free' peoples of Earth. However, in accepting the position of a minister, one gave up their ability to live with their own kind.

In a way, it was ironic, how those who represented the people did not live with them. These people were only allowed five day visits once every six months to the place they had called home. Then, it was back to the Government Buildings for another term in isolation. 

The Government Buildings were located almost on the border between the two divisions. It was based in the Demon Division, with a small crack in the invisible barrier that allowed for the human officials to cross. Nobody knew of this entrance point- those who told, or knew, who were not officials, were disposed of.

Immediately.

In the Bureaucracy network, there were also several androids that obviously had more power then themselves. These humanoid robots had to job of regulating everything, and then bringing reports to the 'big boss.' In every city, there were two Divisions, one for the Humans, and one for the Demons, and a Government building for the two Divisions.

Those who worked in those buildings, and became and Government official had been picked, not only for their intelligence, but their opinion of the other race. Since they were to only people who had interaction with the other races, the Government kept them isolated. There couldn't be any risk of cooperation between the people, so the officials were kept separate from everybody else. They had private settlements.

The private settlements were luxurious rooms that covered enough space to accommodate four people. Living as a Government official had its perks, but the only people you talked to were those you saw practically every day.

And apart from the organic workers, there were the androids. 

These androids were specially designed for intelligent thought. They were able form their own conclusions from data given. However, these androids still had no independent concept. They followed the orders if the Government. They were, like the other androids, emotionless. These humanoid robots were a step higher than the highest positioned demon or human. Then, at the very top of that chain, there was one, solitary Superior. It was called the Monitor. 

Nobody had ever seen a Superior. All of its, for the Superiors have no gender, commands were carried to the people by the messenger robots. All of the dealings of the people were then messaged to the Monitor. The Monitor, true to its title, was the one to observe the people, and to correct any flaws in perfection.

Then, every once in a while, there would be an assembly of all the Monitors to discuss the proceedings of the entire planet. No human or demon had ever witnessed those meetings. They were done in an annual rendezvous point that was unknown to the public. Some thought it to be beyond the Earth's atmosphere. However, there were very few Superiors on Earth compared to the planet's population. In total, there were less than thirty Superiors in the Milky Way galaxy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"How could this have happened?" repeated the android when it received no reply.

This time, a greasy black-haired human spoke up. He had red eyes, an unusual trait in humans, and an aura of evil that seemed to radiate off of him in waves. His face was angular, and his hair was pulled back into a long queue that trailed down his back. This human was actually considered handsome, for he had a destructive beauty that surrounded him. 

His demeanor was always polite to those he did not know, or did not trust. However, once one got to know him better, they would discover the serpent lying beneath sugar-coated words. They would know that this man was dangerous and extremely intelligent. That was one of the reasons he had been selected as Chief Ambassador of the humans in New Tokyo. This was Naraku, one of the most mysterious humans to have every lived. Not even the Government knew all of his secrets.

"Perhaps it was only a relapse in the total solidarity system." Even Naraku's voice was sleek, and filled with deceit.

"Or perhaps the Human Division is simply getting restless."

This time, the speaker was a silver-haired demon. He had a slender face with high cheekbones that gave him an almost femanine appearance. Two purplish stripes on each side of his face and a blue crescent moon shaped mark on his forehead clearly defined this man as a demon. Even if the markings weren't enough, the fluffy white tail he carried over his right shoulder certainly did. He was a full-blooded dog demon.

This was Sesshoumaru, son of the previous Chief Ambassador of the Demon Division, the current Chief Ambassador, and half brother to a half demon. 

His eyes were a deep amber-gold colour, slitted, just as his father's had been, and how his brother's eyes were. They held such coldness and contempt for the human race that it wasn't surprising that the Government had chosen him as one of the representatives. However, his expression was ever a poker face that betrayed none of his thoughts. Even through his voice, one could not detect a shred of emotion. In that way, this demon was much like the androids.

Given the chance, Sesshoumaru would purge the entire of human blood, and give all reign to demons. However, in the world's current state, it was impossible. He'd have to wait for that to ever happen.

Naraku glanced cooly at the dog demon.

"That, is also a possibility, Sesshoumaru-san."

An android spoke up.

"The fact remains that this is the first rebellion to have happened since the year 250. You had studied your people. You had lived among them. The Monitor wishes to know: Will this happen again?"

There was a slight pause before a short-haired woman spoke up. Her voice was slightly girlish, and had an almost annoying undertone to it. Her grey uniform was tighter than the others', and her eyes were a dark magenta. Her hair was decorated with a red ribbon. She was Yura, a mistress of the hair. She was a demon.

"Well, if the silly humans wish to create trouble, why not just kill them all off?" Yura giggled. "It would be such fun!"

A different android replied to her, "The great Superiors have their own reasons for keeping the humans alive. They must not be harmed."

Yura pouted a little. Sesshoumaru remained expressionless. None of the others made any move.

A silence stretched.

Then, a dark-haired human male shifted.

All eyes turned to him.

He had a long braid that fell down his back. A crossed shaped scar adorned his forehead- it had been a scar from a bad fall when he'd been a child. His eyes were a dark brown. This was Bankotsu, a rather rough man who had all the makings of a leader. The human reclined into the stiff chair.

"Personally, I think the humans are finally fighting back. It's been, what? Almost fifty years?" He closed his eyes and a somewhat cruel smile lit the man's face. "It's about time some actions happened to break into our boring day."

A woman, Kagura, made as if to counter his point, but a quick look at Naraku stilled her. 

None of the others noticed. 

Kagura was a user of the wind, a demon who could control the currents with just the flick of a fan. She was, undoubtedly, extremely powerful. However, although she often agreed with his notions, she carried an obvious hatred for Naraku. Her reason for that hate was unknown, and personal. He, on the other hand, was always delighted to meet her in a twisted way. They would constantly spend time in each others' company, but their association was anything but intimate. 

The relationship between the two was strange indeed.

Clearing her throat, the wind user turned away from the human and faced the rest of the assembled people. 

"If there's so much trouble within the Human Division, why not use surveilance equipment on the streets? I have heard that a long time before this one, humans had invented a type of recorder that could take images and chronicle them to be view later. Why not use these devices if it's getting hard to control the people?"

There was a slight noise of agreement from Yura and Bankotsu. Naraku, Sesshoumaru and the remaining human made no comment.

"Kagura-san is right," assented Bankotsu. "This technology is indeed useful, yet it isn't used to promote observation. Imagine how easy it'd be to study the people if we only used these recording devices."

The head android processed the information in its artificial brain before replying.

"Technology invented by humans or demons of this world have been proven to be faulty. The Government will not resort to items below the level that of the Superiors. For this world to be perfect, none of the past's mistakes must be repeated. The Superiors will not permit inventions of this world unless it has been proven to be of the utmost perfection."

A few of the assembled people exchanged looks at this statement.

Naraku leaned back with a look of amusement playing on his pale face. 'So, they don't like that fact that humans were able to innovate something they hadn't… eh? Conceited bastards.'

'It seems… the Superiors hate to be… degraded… when they are the most powerful species in the universe… eh?' The ever stoic face of Sesshoumaru gave no indications of his thoughts.

Another wave of silence washed over the room.

Another monotone voice filled it, "Will this happen with the Demon Division? Will there be any trouble with the Demon Division?" he looked around the room at the various representatives.

"The demons would not be so foolish as to stir up trouble when they know they cannot win," was the answer of Sesshoumaru, "unlike the senseless humans, demons have a sense of self preservation."

Frowning, Bankotsu countered his statement, "Humans are not foolish, Sesshoumaru-san, they too, have a sense of self preservation, as you say, but they do wish for something more than how they live now." He leaned back, touching the tips of his fingers together, "The demons simply have no desire to live without these…" He drifted off, "…regulations."

Naraku heard the exchange silently while thoughts swarmed through his head. 

'They know that the demons do have the power to overthrow their reign, but they have no interest in doing so. The humans cannot accomplish anything, yet they are the ones with a free spirit. Hnn. So that is why they keep them apart…'

An almost undistinguishable sneer flickered over his face. 'Stupid fools…'

In the meantime, an android stored away what had been spoken in its memory bank. The information would later be sent to the Monitor after the meeting was over. 

The only person who had not spoken, a female ambassador for the Human Division, sat in the shadows, mouth set in a grim line. Her grey eyes glittered calculatingly as she studied everybody in the room. Long hair fell down her back, tied up with a ribbon, two strands paused on her shoulders before joining the rest. 

This woman was certainly beautiful, in a frigid manner. Many men she had lived with had hoped that when she was assigned a counterpart, it would be them. But she hadn't been assigned. 

She had disappeared.

The woman remained quiet, no emotion playing across her face at the words spoken at the meeting.

"Is there any other information the people convened would like to offer?"

Silence met the head android's inquiry. 

It stood up. 

"You may retire to your private settlements. The next meeting will be called to discuss possible changes in the procedure…"

Silent, she had remained for the remainder of the meeting, and once it had been adjourned, she raised silently, exiting one of the many conference rooms, retreating down the hallway. Not once, did she greet the few people who passed her by. 

She ignored every one of them.

Her face was as expressionless as that of an android, and her indifferent aura radiated off of her.

Once upon a time, she hadn't been like this.

Once, she had been filled with life and happiness that attracted so many people to her. She had been caring and cheerful.

But that had been a long time ago.

It had all changed with one fateful event.

The human female pushed that train of thought out of her head and turned resolutely around a corner. She refused to think about that incident. She approached her room. Once at the door of her private residence, she raised her personal identification card to the slot.

A slick voice made her stop.

"So, Kikyou, why so quiet during the meeting?" Naraku inquired of the woman.

He had followed her after the meeting.

He had followed her without her knowing.

Damn him.

He was the cause of it all. He was the reason she had lost her liveliness. He was the one she hated to most. 

But she knew his one secret. 

His one secret that would bring Naraku's slimy head down from its high perch. 

And she knew he knew she knew.

But for a personal reason, she would keep it to herself. 

For the moment, anyway.

Kikyou spoke without turning around. "I had nothing to say. As I have nothing to say to you. Good night. Naraku-_san_"

And she slide her card across the lock, entering her room.

Naraku chuckled darkly and turned away. 

Kikyou.

The woman who now cared for nothing but her own survival because of him.

The woman who refused to acknowledge her emotions.

Naraku strode to the room only two doors away from hers. He opened it with a slide of a card. With another sinister grin, the man walked into his room.

He would have his fun with her later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[It's chapter 5 and our main couple STILL hasn't met! That's not a good sign, is it? -_-;;
Finally got this chapter out. For some reason, it was particularly hard to type… no Kag or Inu this time. I sort of… gave up trying to make this one longer. ^_^;; And I'm still not satisfied with it… not to mention it was shorter than usual.
For now, Secret Garden is a much needed escape from this… more serious (straining) story.]


	7. Chapter 06

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters… At least, I don't THINK I do… Let me get back to you on that…

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

- change in scenery or time

[a fair amount of scene hopping in this chapter]

Previously, on Lock Down:

{Naraku strode to the room only two doors away from hers. He opened it with a slide of a card. With another sinister grin, the man walked into his room.

He would have his fun with her later.}

.

New Moon

Feb.27.299 NA

.

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118

Kagome had missed school the previous day.

When the androids had checked up on her the morning after the Fire to establish her reason of absence, they had found a teenager who had suffered a near emotional break down. Of course, unable to feel emotions themselves, the androids hadn't known this. She had told them that it was only a minor cold, and that she would be able to return to school the next day. Due to her perfect attendance record, they had dismissed the absence, and allowed her one day's rest before she returned to school.

Today was that day.

It was time to face the music- namely, her friends and classmates.

She didn't know if she was ready to face the questions yet. The images from the battle still haunted her mind- especially that of the boy.

Kagome had no idea why, but the death of 'Kohaku', had been particularly disturbing. Perhaps it was because she could relate to the girl who was grieving over him, since the schoolgirl herself had a little brother. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of never being able to see Souta again, and suddenly, she realised. In the society she lived in, siblings would probably never meet again.

She hadn't had one of 'the dreams' the past two days.

In fact, both nights had been void of any dreams, period.

Kagome didn't know if that were a good thing.

The schoolgirl sighed and checked her clothing, making sure it was clean. The outfit she had worn on 'that day' had been thrown into the trash as soon as she had woken up.

Walking over to the small, hand sized mirror hanging beside the door, the girl checked her reflection.

There were almost noticeable bags under her eyes, which were still slightly red. Her expression was heavy and weary. Her eyes had lost some of its lustre they had held before. She tried pulling a smile, but it looked empty and fake, even to her. Dropping her gaze down, away from her face, Kagome caught sight of the medallion dangling on her delicate neck.

Reaching up, she fingered it almost dreamily. Then, her hand dropped in disgust. This had been that boy's. She almost felt like a thief.

No.

It was worse than being a thief.

She had stolen from the dead.

But even with that thought, she couldn't bring herself to take the pendent off. It was beautiful; a deep green coloured circle with a strange emblem within it. Leaning closer to the mirror, Kagome squinted, trying to make out what the symbol was, but she couldn't see any patterns. Shrugging, the girl leaned back to observe the effect of the entire image.

There seemed to be a sudden glow being emitted by the ornament, but when the teenager blinked, it had gone. She shrugged and brushed it off to the dim lighting in her room. Slightly self-conscious, the seventeen-year-old reached around her neck and undid some of the knots in her silver chain to allow the medallion to fall into her clothes.

Standing in front of the mirror, Kagome practised smiling until she could get it to look half-genuine. Satisfied that her image was no different from any other day, the teenager then stepped out of her room, prepared for the onslaught of questions that were bound to be thrown at her.

* * *

Neo Tokyo, Demon Division, Sector 118

Inuyasha glanced at the clock. It read 6:45. Hopping off of his bed, the half-demon stretched, cracking many of his joints in the process. His ears flicked around, catching the morning noises. While he hadn't slept the previous evening, the half-demon had stayed in a trance-like state for the entire night. It was almost like a form of meditation.

Moving around his room, the boy attempted to get his body out of the morning stiffness that came with sitting in one position all night without moving.

Stepping out of his night pants, the hanyou opened his closet with a loud bang as the sliding door collided with the wall. Pulling out a grey outfit, he continued dressing slowly, peeking at the digital clock every now and then. Running into his small personal bathroom, he quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face. He never bothered brushing his hair, since it normally fell into place anyway as the day progressed.

Grabbing his schoolbag, Inuyasha took one last glance at the glowing red numbers. They read 6:55.

Perfect.

Grinning, the teenager cracked his knuckles and tore through the hallway at speeds that were almost unnatural, even compared to demon standards. There were only a precious few types of youkai that could outpace him, most of which belonged to the canine family.

Slamming through a door, he took in a deep breath through his nose, and then resumed sprinting. Chancing a glance at the sky, the boy's speed suddenly slackened as he stared at the sky in disbelief. Quickly taking a glimpse at his watch, Inuyasha cursed at the date.

Damn. He'd forgotten.

It would be the night of the new moon.

* * *

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

"Kagome-chan! What's wrong!"

"Yeah! Why weren't you at school yesterday?"

"Or the day before that?"

Kagome smiled tiredly at Yuki, Eri, and Ayumi, who were clustered around her, clucking like concerned hens. It was lunch hour, and the first half of the school day had passed without many disturbances, except for the occasional questionings from different classmates. However, one the break had arrived, the trio had zoned in on Kagome, concerned about their friend.

"I'm fine. It was just a little cold."

"Have you been getting enough sleep?" questioned Eri, "Look at the bags under your eyes!"

She winced. Guess those bags weren't as unnoticeable as she'd thought…

Yuka butted in, "And you're face is so pale- Hey! Your eyes are red- have you been crying?"

Kagome faked another grin and yawned. "I guess it's just as Eri-chan said- I didn't get enough sleep last night."

"But-"

"Listen, guys," interrupted Ayumi, the quiet one, "Let's just leave Kagome-chan alone. She looks frazzled enough without us fussing over her. Maybe she just needs a… momentary boost."

Kagome smiled thankfully at Ayumi. The other two fell silent for a while before nodding their heads excitedly.

"Tomorrow's a free day, right?" Started Yuka.

Eri beamed almost frighteningly at Kagome, "So let's have some fun tonight!"

The smile had frozen on the girl's face. "Fun?"

Yuka and Eri both had unfaltering grins on their expressions.

"Yeah! We can go out for the night! Just the four of us."

"But I have work-"

"You can afford to miss _one_ night of studying! Come on! It'll be fun!"

"Besides, you have all of Day Seven to catch up on work!"

"Then you can get back to studying at school on Day One!"

The chattering of the two girls filled up the lunch hour conversation as they began to plan for the night. Kagome turned tiredly to her meal of rice and vegetables. Ayumi only clapped a hand to her forehead, sighing in exasperation.

Just then, a voice called over the intercom, "Student 10031, report to the main office. Student 10031, report to the main office."

Kagome blinked owlishly as she suddenly became the centre of attention for everybody in the cafeteria, a piece of brocoli sticking out of her mouth. Everybody was silent. "Huh?" was her intelligent question.

Ayumi nudged her up, "Go on Kagome, I'm sure it can't be anything bad. Maybe they just wanna know why you were absent for the past two days."

The blue-eyed girl swallowed nervously, abruptly not feeling so well. On her way to the office, the girl bit her lip and twisted her hands. What if they had discovered what she had seen? She stopped in front of the metal office door. What if there were red androids in there at this very moment, ready to drag her away to who knew where?

She took in a deep breath and pulled on smile. 'Remember, Kagome, deny everything.' With an absent rub on the medallion at her neck for good measure, she stepped into the office.

Fortunately, she could find nothing out of the ordinary in the main office- just two secretary androids at work, and the door that lead to the principal's workplace. She sat down on one of the hard wooden chairs at the indication of one of the secretaries and waited.

A few minutes passed in silence.

Then the door opened, a man stepping out, "Student 10031, Kagome?"

Kagome stood up. "Yes sir."

He gestured to her with a clipboard. "Come in. I have a matter to discuss with you."

She nodded and followed him, the smile dropping from her face. What had she done to merit a visit to the head's office? Once she had seated herself in front of the desk, she looked nervously at the head. His expression was serious- not a very good indication. They stared at each other in silence, each second causing her nerves to tighten further.

"Kagome-san, you know you are one of our best students- no, the best student in this school." Kagome nodded, unsure where this was headed. "Your academic marks are outstanding. Your athletic percentile is extraordinary, and you put your best effort into every thing."

"Yes, sir?" She waited for the pin to drop.

He nodded and handed her an envelope. "Based on your statistics, the Government has decided to assign you your counterpart earlier than usual." His face broke into a small smile. "Congratulations. And best of luck in your profession assignment at the end of your educational career. You're graduating this year, correct?"

The raven-haired girl was almost numb from shock, and it took a while for the question to register. "Wha- I mean, yes, sir."

He nodded, face serious once more. "That is all. You can examine your selection out of my office. The two of you will meet a few days before graduation to become aquainted. The Government simply wanted to give you a," he paused, "A… _sneak peek_, as you young people call it. Now go and resume the school day."

"Yes, sir." Kagome began to walk towards the closed door, envelop in hand.

"And student 10031?"

She froze, apprehension causing her to hold her breath.

"You might want to get some more sleep. Those bags under your eyes do not look healthy. You're dismissed."

The girl blew out a sigh of relief and quickly escaped from the office, quickly shutting the door behind her. She was relieved that she really wasn't in trouble, but this was… unexpected. For the Government to have already made their selection in her husband-to-be so soon was quite rare. Kagome stumbled past the secretary androids and out into the hallway. She started towards the cafeteria.

Upon entering the room, there was a lull in the sound, then when everybody had assessed that she was still whole and well, the conversation started up again.

"Kagome-chan!"

Yuka, Ayumi and Eri rushed over to the girl and began to question her.

"So, what happened?"

"You didn't get into trouble did you?"

"You _look_ alright."

"You're not going be transferred, are you?"

"Guys." Ayumi cut into the barrage of questions. "Let's let Kagome-chan answer us?"

They fell silent and turned to the blue-eyed girl.

At this moment, she only just became aware of the event that had happened, and the teenager was able to mumble, "I… was assigned a counterpart…"

Her friends' mouths dropped wide open before Eri all but tore the envelop from her hand. "Is his information in here? Oh. My. God. I can't believe the Government did you this early!" She opened it.

Yuka took a small piece of paper, and the four girls crowded around it.

"Let's see… This says that he's twenty-one years old- oh, you got an older man!" Yuka started the examination.

Eri swiped the paper. "He's a technician, but for what, it doesn't tell us. His eye colour is violet, short black hair, about 6 feet tall… Wow. He sounds pretty cute! And he has pierced ears!"

Ayumi read next, "His permanent number is 10025, and his name's… Mirkou? And that's all that this card tells us."

Kagome took the envelop and found another piece of paper in it. She pulled it out, revealing a photograph.

Once they saw it, Eri and Ayumi sighed dramatically. "Oh wow. You're so lucky, Kagome-chan! I can't believe you got paired up with such a cute guy!"

"Oh, I hope mine will be as hot as he is!"

The raven-haired girl could only stare at the picture in a daze, "Whatever you say, guys.

"Whatever you say."

* * *

Neo Tokyo, Demon Division, Sector 118

Inuyasha scowled at the other students, in a surlier mood than usual.

He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about the new moon!

It was the one night he turned human, and it had totally slipped his mind. Glaring at a small rat youkai who had happened to be at his table located at the very back of the cafeteria, he set his lunch tray down with a bang, growling all the while. The small critter squeaked in surprise, and ran away towards the front. The hanyou watched in satisfaction as he scuttled to a more crowded table, casting one frightened glance over his shoulder.

Turning to his meal, the teenager glared at the chicken sandwich wrapped neatly in plastic wrap.

It wasn't that he hated being human. It was just the fact that he was so vulnerable on that night that he despised. That he could be discovered and killed at any time.

Actually, scratch that.

He _did_ hate the human blood in him.

It was the one thing preventing him from being accepted.

If he weren't a dirty hanyou, he would have become one of the most popular students at school. He was smart. He was strong. His father had been a Chief Ambassador. His halfbrother _was_ the current Chief Ambassador. That title alone would have made him one of the most influential people in school, but no. He was scorned.

Because of the tainted blood that ran through Inuyasha's veins.

Sometimes, he wondered whether there was a way he could get rid of his human aspects, and become a full-blooded demon. Granted, it wouldn't necessarily make him popular overnight, but it would get him more respect among the people.

Sighing, the teenager tore through the plastic and commenced eating. Chewing slowly, he glanced upwards at the solid black ceiling. Beyond that barrier, there was no visible moon in the sky. He would turn human that night, just like on every other new moon.

Wasn't there _anything_ he could do tonight?

He hated being trapped indoors, and normally spent as much time as he could outside. Whether it was exploring the city or just sitting in one of the regulated park areas, Inuyasha spent every minute outdoors that he could. Most of that time was now spent trying to figure out the mystery of the barrier.

The boy's expression suddenly turned thoughtful.

The barrier.

It was obviously the barrier that kept the two Divisions apart. It couldn't be the city grounds itself, since Inuyasha had never experienced any ill effects on the night of the new moon. The only thing that prevented one species from meeting the other was that divider that was designed to keep them apart. If one could overcome that divider, then there would be nothing stopping them from exploring…

And to get past the barrier… it wasn't impossible. He was living proof of that fact. But… how _could_ one cross it…?

A slow smirk worked its way onto Inuyasha's face as he finished off his sandwich. Crushing the wrapping into a small ball, he tossed it into a nearby trash can. He walked out of the cafeteria towards his next class as plans started forming in his head.

Maybe the new moon wasn't as bad as he'd thought…

* * *

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

Kagome trudged down the hallway, glad that the school day had finally ended. After the questioning period during lunch, Eri and Yuka had decided that a 'girl's night out' was exactly what Kagome had needed. All through class, they had shot Kagome and Ayumi excited little glances. Kagome herself hadn't gotten into the idea; the events of two day's past still haunting her, and had only smiled half-heartedly.

Ayumi, however, had gotten more into the idea, and agreed with the others that it probably was a good idea for them to go out more often.

Giving explicit instructions for her to be ready by 4:00, the trio had hurried off the Student Settlement as soon as school had ended, leaving Kagome to gather her scattered wits, and also her extra homework. The picture of her assigned counterpart was in its envelop with the information at the bottom of her backpack. She'd deal with _him_ once she met him.

Sighing, the girl slipped her personal identification card through one of the attendance slots and stepped though the doors. Her bag was a little heavier than usual with the extra work she'd have to do. It was amazing how much one could miss in just one short day. Luckily, one Day Seven, there was no school, meaning that she had an entire day to finished the assigned homework.

Starting off towards her Student Settlement, Kagome glanced upwards at the blue sky.

It was so different from that day… just two days ago. Shuddering as the memories of the Fire filled her mind, Kagome stopped and squeezed her eyes shut. Most of the time, whenever she'd had a problem, she'd be able to tell somebody, and sharing the information made it a lot easier to deal with.

But if she were to tell anybody of what she'd witnessed…

It wasn't an option.

Kagome couldn't even tell her closest friends, and that made her feel more alone than ever. Ever since she had met them, they had shared their deepest secrets, but she couldn't tell them of this one for fear of her own life. Grasping the necklace she wore, the girl gathered comfort from the warmth from the medallion. It was a relic from that Fire, and it helped to anchor her to reality, and not to be swept up into her nightmares.

So absorbed in her thoughts was the teenager, that she didn't hear the shouts of her name until they had gotten much closer.

"Kagome-san! Kagome-san!"

The aforementioned girl turned around in surprise, hand dropping down to her side. What greeted her eyes was a running boy with short brown hair, and kind eyes. He was certainly handsome, if not a little… wimpy looking.

"Houjo-kun!"

Yes, indeed, this was the famous Houjo who had harboured a crush on Kagome since the day they had met. He quickly ran up to her, and smiled, running a hand through his hair. It was too bad that his hopes would soon be squashed upon learning that her counterpart was not him…

"Kagome-san! I heard you were sick yesterday, and couldn't attend school," his expression was that of complete and utter concern, "So, I decided to get you something special with some of my student credits!"

With a boyishly happy countenance, he presented a nicely packaged bundle. Kagome gasped and smiled truthfully at the boy. The students were only allowed a few hundred credits for their entire student career entitled for special needs. For Houjo to have spent some of his on her…

If left her feeling more than a little guilty.

"Oh Houjo-kun, thank you but you shouldn't have…"

He grinned, and ran another hand nervously through his hair. "No, it's okay. I… I just hope that it'll help you recover! See ya, Kagome-san!"

With those words, he turned, and ran back the way he had come, leaving the girl with a present in her hands, feeling more than a little dazed.

She waved at the retreating back. "Bye…?"

Looking back at the present, the teenager carefully un-wrapped it, revealing a small set of candles. She brought the labels up to eye level.

"Aroma Therapy?"

She carefully smelled the candles, and a soft smile came to her face. Lavender. He'd remembered. Lavender was her favourite flower, and Houjo had bought her scented candles to help with her 'illness'. While she may not have had any romantic feelings towards him, Kagome certainly counted the boy as one of her good friends.

Now if he would only figure that out…

But she didn't have the heart to burst his bubble just yet. Maybe when he too, was assigned a partner, the blow would fall more softly?

Mindfully placing the gift into her bag, Kagome started off towards home, a new smile on her face.

Suddenly, the planned trip didn't look so bad after all…

* * *

New Tokyo, Demon Division, Sector 118 

Inuyasha dashed out of school as usual, and headed towards his Student Settlement. However, upon dropping his things off in his room, he didn't take off immediately, like other days. He stayed there, more than a little anxious about what he was going to attempt.

And what exactly was he planning…?

To finally cross the divider.

To explore the Human Division.

How?

By utilising his human phase.

Through his logic reasoning, the only reason why demons were repelled from the barrier was because they had no human blood in them. The opposite was true for the human side. He believed that because he would be completely human, he'd be able to get through whatever device maintained the divider, and would be able to see the Human Division firsthand.

But then again, he'd never been one to take advantage of his brainpower.

Inuyasha had always been more of a… physical person than anything. He never really planned anything, preferring to carry them out, and then move on from there.

Which was why he hadn't thought about how he would return to the Demon Division through the barrier…

He'd cross that when he came to it.

He also didn't think about the clothing issues. Or the identification issues.

In fact, the only thing the hanyou had really thought about was how to cross the border. He'd improvise from there.

Glancing out of the small window, the hanyou watched as the sun slowly began to sink lower into the sky.

Quickly exiting his room, he ran out of the student settlement, intent on reaching the divider before he turned human. It would be less risky if he were already there when the sun set, and didn't have to travel through the streets. This way, it would be harder for the demons to find his human scent. Even if Inuyasha didn't like to hide, he wasn't stupid.

…

Most of the time…

When the boy had finally reached the Division limits, the sun had sunk almost completely below the horizon. Trying to calm his rapidly beating heart, he took in several deep breaths. Glancing west, he watched as the last of the sun's rays disappeared.

And with them, so did his demonic powers.

Eyes closed, Inuyasha winced at the subtle twinges of pain as some of his body features changed. His white dog-ears shrunk, and moulded into smaller, flesh toned ones that moved to the side of his head. His fangs were dulled, and his claws were considerably shorter. If one were to witness the transformation, they would say that it were as if ink had been spilled over the hanyou's head, as his hair turned from silvery-white to ebony black.

Opening his eyes, the hanyou-turned-human knew without needing his small mirror, that the once amber orbs were of a lavender colour.

Whipping his head this way and that, Inuyasha carefully inspected the area for any witnesses of the transformation. Even with his dulled eyesight and hearing, he could tell that nobody had been in the vicinity- he had chosen a more isolated region, after all.

Cracking his knuckles, the boy let out a breath and took a step towards the strip of grass.

Step by step, he advanced the divider until he paused directly behind it.

Bringing up his hand, he barely noted that it was shaking, before slipping it into the air before him.

His body tensed, expecting a reaction. The teenager turned his head away, features scrunched up in anticipation.

Nothing.

Bringing the hand back, he examined it, and found nothing different. Snorting softly at his weakness, he dropped the hand to his side, and rolled his shoulders.

Well, it was now or never.

Taking in another deep breath, he hopped on the balls of his feet.

'That's it. You've got nothing to lose. Go for it.'

Squeezing his eyes shut, Inuyasha took a step into the divider.

In response to:

--Ayu-tateishi:

Yes, there should be Sess/Rin in this story for character development and all that jazz.

At least… that's what's planned…

[So, Inuyasha has finally worked out a way to cross the barrier! (What a smart boy he is!)

Will it work? Only time will tell.

They'll meet soon… I promise! I really do!

And as for the Mir/Kag thing? Have I ever mentioned that this fic's going to be Inu/Kag?

Please don't hurt me. .]


	8. Chapter 07

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Inuyasha. Takahashi-san. Does.

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

- change in scenery or time

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{Well, it was now or never.

Taking in another deep breath, he hopped on the balls of his feet.

'That's it. You've got nothing to lose. Go for it.'

Squeezing his eyes shut, Inuyasha took a step into the divider.}

.

The Other Side

.

Feb.27.299 NA

New Tokyo, Sector 118 

It was almost like stepping into a room filled with white light- there was nothing. Nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to feel.

It was just… empty.

Carefully examining his body, Inuyasha found that he was still whole. He moved his limbs- still functional. Quickly glancing around, the boy checked what he considered to be his more… valuable parts over- still whole.

Satisfied with his physical condition, Inuyasha looked around, having stopped after stepping completely into the area that divided the two divisions. The barrier seemed like one extremely long room that stretched on forever. There were no doors in this place, but glancing back, the boy could almost make out the dark shapes of the business buildings in the Demon Division. It was like examining something behind a veil of white.

Waiting for something, anything, to alert him to his discovery, the teenager stayed still for what seemed like an eternity. But there was nothing. Not a single life form, artificial, or other, was in this… place except for him.

Letting go of a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, Inuyasha walked a few paces towards the right. Experimentally sticking his hand through the thin wall, he watched in fascination as it seemed to slide right through, becoming blurred. Half of the hand was clear, and the image of the other half seemed to… shimmer?

Bending closer to the wall, Inuyasha found that his hand was, indeed, shimmering, although he couldn't feel it. Taking this time to examine the wall, he discovered that it wasn't a 'wall', more like a constantly moving sheet of gas. A solid looking sheet of gas.

"Whoa."

The word bounced off the 'walls' of the enclosed area of white, causing an echo to reverberate through the entire divider. The teenager blinked in surprise, and opened his mouth again, "Cool."

"Cool… cool… cool…"

Taking in a deep breath, Inuyasha shouted into the barrier, ignoring any possible dangers it could cause, "IT WORKED!" The echoes bounced back and forth, starting out so loudly that the boy was thankful he didn't have his usual sensitive hearing, before fading into silence.

Nodding in adolescent approval, the boy crossed his arms.

Now what?

The hanyou-turned human abruptly became aware of a strange ringing noise in his ears. All of a sudden, he didn't feel so good any more. An almost queasy feeling was bubbling up inside of him. A light aching began to pound in his head, and the boy squeezed his eyes shut.

In a few moments, the pounding faded away, as did the queasiness. Checking himself over again, Inuyasha could find nothing wrong on the exterior, but his heart was poun-…

Wait.

That's right.

His heart.

Which pumped blood.

The blood that contained that of a demon.

And it became clear.

The divider had been designed to keep the two blood types separated, and that meant blocking one blood type, and allowing the other to go through. Even though the night of the new moon did take away his demonic powers, the blood of his father, a demon, still flowed through his veins.

Considerably more alert, the hanyou turned his attention to the other side of the barrier.

So this was it.

This was what he had been aiming for- crossing the barrier to see the humans. He had no idea what was on the other side, nor did he know how the inhabitants would react-

Hell, they might not even be humans!

For all he knew, the Government education system could have been feeding them lies all the time. There could be many more different intelligent species living on Earth than they had been taught.

Hesitant once more, Inuyasha paused before the wall of gas that separated the supposed Human Division from the Demon Division. If he looked closely, the boy could just make out outlines of the buildings on the other side. Ambiguously, he wondered if the people on the other side could see him, even if he couldn't see them.

Pushing one foot forward, Inuyasha stepped closer before pausing.

What would happen once he finally passed through? What if he were found out and killed?

But then all doubts were pushed out of the teenager's head as another wave of head pounding and nausea washed over him. This one was slightly stronger than the first. Not eager for any more discomfort, Inuyasha pushed all doubts aside and stepped through the thin wall, and into the next Division.

* * *

"Kagome! Hurry up!"

Kagome rolled her eyes at her friends' impatience as they pounded at her door. She had been loading a few student credits onto her personal identification card, just in case she found something worth getting. Eri and Yuka had decided that the group would be going to the nearest commercial district- strips of Government run shops that sold the occasional extra needs. The closest commercial district was located right beside that area's business district.

The teenager glanced at her clock. It read 18:48. Walking to her door, Kagome opened it, and smiled at her friends.

"Finally! What were you doing, Kagome, homework?!" exclaimed Yuka.

Kagome shifted nervously, and grinned, "Of _course_ not!" She placed a hand on either of Yuka and Ayumi's arms, and started pulling them down the hallway, leaving Eri to follow, "Now let's go…!"

Walking down the corridor, they waved to different classmates, occasionally throwing a greeting across the narrow hallway. Passing the dining room, they smiled at all of the people within it, and waved. Reaching the settlement doors, Kagome tossed them open. The girls were greeted by the sky that was steadily darkening as the sun set.

The blue-eyed girl looked at Eri and Yuka, "So, where's the commercial district, oh knowing ones?"

There was a lapse in sound. All three of her friends gasped, looking horrified.

"You mean you don't _know_?"

"You've _never_ been to the commercial district?"

"What have you been doing these past years?"

Kagome smiled nervously and shrugged her shoulders, "The only place I've been to besides the recreational district was… well… er… the… ah…" she drifted off.

The other girls gaped, shocked, at their friend, and Kagome squirmed uncomfortably. They really could be quite frightening when they wanted to be…

Eri's eyes were wide as she exclaimed, "You mean you've _never_ been any place except for the Student Settlement and school?!"

"That's not true…" argued Kagome

"Then where _have _you been?" questioned Ayumi.

The girl thought for a moment before answering sheepishly, "I lived in the private residential area before school, you know…"

The others gawked at her.

"Even _I've_ been to more places than you have!" exclaimed Ayumi, the bookworm.

Snapping out of her daze, Yuka grabbed onto the teenager's arm, suddenly cheerful, "That's why we're going out now! It's been almost 5 years, and we still haven't gone anywhere together!"

"Yeah!" agreed Eri, "We have to spend some more time together before we all graduate and get moved to the corners of New Tokyo!"

With that said, the group started to walk in the direction of the commercial district, chatting all the while. Kagome grinned and looked around at her friends. This was what she wanted- to forget about everything else except for having fun. For one night, she wanted to forget what she had seen, meet some new people, and maybe even spend some credits.

They walked into the business district, deciding to cut into the shopping area through the empty office buildings. Strolling past the high-rise buildings, the girls continued to talk. The streets were abandoned, except for the foursome. If anybody had bothered to notice, they would have discovered that the students were walking along a path parallel to the borderline of the Human Division.

So immersed in their conversation were the friends, that they did not notice a shadow emerge from the divider, slipping into the shadows quickly.

* * *

Inuyasha sighed as the group of people took no notice of him. He had gathered the courage to exit the barrier, only to have a close shave at being caught. Luckily, the people had been too preoccupied to take notice of him. Sneaking about the corner of the building, the teenager caught a quick glimpse of four figures.

Examining them as well as he could from such a distance, the boy discovered that they looked like many of the demons at school when they were in their contained forms.

They looked like mother had.

They looked like he did right now.

They were definitely human.

He waited until the chattering of female voices faded away into the distance, and then stepped away from the tall building he'd been hiding against.

Looking around, the boy blinked. This place looked almost exactly like the business district in the Demon Division! In fact, once he stepped back from the taller buildings, and looked at the skyline, the formation of the structures were a mirror image to that in the Demon Division.

Back facing towards the divider, Inuyasha tried to figure out his bearings.

'If the Human Division is parallel to the Demon Division, then the school settlement would be… that way?' He pointed his finger straight forward. 'But then, if this place is supposed to be _that_ way, then this would be… right?'

After several minutes of deliberation, the boy finally gave up.

'Keh. This is confusing… Whatever. If in doubt, always go… right.' Redirecting his hand, Inuyasha pointed towards his right, and nodded in satisfaction, 'Right. Right is always right.'

Now, wasn't that good logic?

The boy began to quickly walk in the direction his hand had been pointed, eager to meet some humans. Although he would never show it, the hanyou really was interested in how the humans really lived, and whether they were all the Government claimed them to be. He wondered whether they spoke Japanese, or some other language, and if they learned the same things.

Hell, he was curious about a lot of things.

Not that he would ever admit to it.

As Inuyasha walked, the business buildings thinned as the business district came to an end. Walking towards the end of the high rise buildings, the boy became aware of the low murmuring of a crowd. Assuming that the next district was beginning, his attention became even more affixed to his surroundings. Smaller structures began to emerge in between the taller ones until they dominated the scene.

More and more humans were appearing along the streets, as Inuyasha walked into the heart of what he assumed to be the commercial district. The hanyou looked around in fascination at all the people walking around- he had never seen a human apart from himself and his mother.

She had been right- there were lots of others like herself. The teenager watched as human after human strolled down the streets, occasionally stopping in front of a window to check out the goods being sold. Some were in groups, some were in pairs, and still others were alone. There were females, males, and people of all ages. Some carried bags while others walked empty-handed.

Some were walking extremely fast, as though in a hurry, and some strolled leisurely down the path. Many of the younger people around his age were in small groups, chatting excitedly.

The hanyou was lucky in the fact that he wore the same outfit as the humans. The crowd was a sea of moving grey uniforms with black topped heads- everybody was dark-haired. People of different ages had different coloured armbands, just as it was in the Demon Division.

Inuyasha could only wonder at the number of people in this small district. The population of the people who ventured into the commercial district of the Demon Division wasn't half as large as this. If these humans were only a fraction of the total population… then the demon population was only two thirds the size of the human population!

Noticing that he was at the receiving end of several stares from the passer-bys, Inuyasha hastily shut his mouth, and resumed walking, albeit slowly. He looked into one of the windows, and discovered that most of the goods were similar to those sold in the Demon Division. The items sold here were mainly accessories that might please the humans. There were books, and extra stationary. While the necessities were provided by the Government, there were some frills that the people sometimes desired.

The occasional over-the-counter drug could be bought in the commercial district as well.

For those extra tid-bits, the Government granted a certain amount of credits to the people. The students had a fixed amount of 300 credits for their entire student career, while those who had graduated received yearly grants. Those credits could be spent on anything that was offered- books, equipment- anything that was authorised by the Government.

While some of the shops were interesting, Inuyasha found the people to be more so, and studied the mass, feeling a strange feeling of longing. He didn't know if he really wanted to live among these people, or if it was just that familiar desire of being accepted. Everybody here seemed to be so happy, and friendly.

But on the other hand, so were the demons when they were among each other.

Suddenly, a man brushed against the boy, making him stumble in his stupor. The middle-aged human stopped, and bowed apologetically, "Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me," and then, offering a kind smile, he walked off.

Surprised, the hanyou wondered that if he was here in his regular form, if the people would treat him the same as they did now. He wondered if the man would have excused himself, or whether he would have laughed at him. He wondered about a lot of things.

But for now, his questions would remain unanswered.

He checked his wristwatch- 19:45. It had been almost an hour since he'd left home.

So immersed in his thoughts was Inuyasha, that he didn't realise he was walking in the direct path of somebody until he collided with them. Falling to the ground, his first instinct was to be annoyed. Forgetting that this was the Human Division, and that he looked 'normal', the boy's only thought was that he was being bullied again by some self-righteous demons.

So he reverted into defensive mode.

Standing up, the boy brushed himself off, and glared at the person, who turned out to be a black-haired girl.

"Oww…"

"What the hell!?" He yelled, "Watch where you're going next tim…" He drifted off as the girl has helped up by her friends, and she stood, glaring at him.

"You bumped into her!" was one the friends' indignant shout.

However, he did not hear that as he got a glance at the person he had collided with.

"Hello? I expect an apology!" She crossed her arms expectantly.

He stared at her, an expression akin to astonishment. She looked like… But it couldn't be…

When he didn't reply to her demand, she took an inquisitive step closer.

"Hello?"

His thoughts snapped back to the present.

"It's you…"

* * *

"Look! Up ahead! See that, Kagome? That's the com-mer-cial dis-trict." Yuka used a deliberately slow voice as she pointed out the shops. It was as if she were explaining something to a slow child.

The blue-eyed girl glared flatly at her friend, "I know, Yuka. I can read." She, in turn, indicated at a small sign affixed to the wall of a flat building.

Yuka clapped her hands, "Very good!"

Kagome sighed in exasperation. Ayumi rolled her eyes, and Eri shook her head. Yuka could be extremely childish at times. They didn't know whether she was acting this way deliberately, or if it was her nature.

Ignoring the girl's comment, Kagome continued in the direction of the shops, Eri and Ayumi in tow. Once Yuka realised nobody was really listening to her, she 'hmphed' and hurried off after them.

Suddenly, Eri squealed, and ran into a shop, dragging Ayum with her. Exchanging bemused looks, Yuka and Kagome followed the pair. They found themselves in a shop that sold the few accessories that were authorised by the government. Eri was excitedly trying on a light blue hair-band that matched the band on her arm.

"Look! I've been wanting to get one for months! Isn't it cute?" Rushing to the android at the counter, she held out her personal ID.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. 'Cute…?'

The android took the card, and swiped it through a slot behind the counter. The 23 credits were automatically taken off of the card.

Ayumi, having followed her, stating wryly, "Careful, Eri, if you don't watch out, you're going to spend all your credits tonight."

The girl only grinned at her.

Eri walked out the door, the other three trailing after her, "I might as well, we're graduating soon anyway, and then these won't be of any use anymore." She adjusted the hair-band that was now resting on her head.

Yuka nodded her head, "That's true."

Kagome's face, had however, fallen, "You mean our credits will be nullified after we graduate? And I've been saving them up all this time!"

Eri wrinkled her nose. "I know, doesn't it suck? I just found out a few days ago from Hotaru."

As the minutes passed, the four friends continued to chat, and occasionally stopped to explore the different shops. So far, Kagome had seen nothing worth getting, while Ayumi had purchased several new school supplies that were of a better quality than the Government issued ones.

Abruptly, Kagome stopped, and bent down, "Wait, Ayumi, you dropped your pens..."

At that moment, a person walked into the girl, knocking them both over. Yelping, Kagome fell onto her posterior, and sat up, rubbing it.

"Ow…"

As Yuka and Eri helped the blue-eyed girl, a masculine shout was directed at the fallen her, "What the hell!? Watch where you're going next tim…"

"You bumped into her!" was Ayumi's accusation.

Standing up fully, Kagome pulled away from her friends, and put her hands on her hips. She glared at the boy. He had unusually long black hair, and lavender eyes. He was… cute. Blushing slightly, Kagome shook her head, clearing her head of any traitorous thoughts. She stood, looking expectantly at the boy, but he did nothing.

"Hello? I expect an apology!"

However, his face wore an expression of shock and… something that Kagome didn't recognise. Slightly taken back, She took a concerned step closer to the boy.

She blinked at him, "Hello?"

That seemed to shake him a little as his eyes focused.

"It's you…

… You…

…Ki-

Kikyou…"

* * *

Review Responses (taking a leaf out of SG…)

-- WinterBlossom/YukiSakura

Here's your update!

-- Gueshoo

Thanks so much! And, yes, this is a sort of a combo of Animal Farm, The Giver with the Inuyasha characters… I actually thought of the idea at school… while we were doing a novel study on Animal Farm… And then the themes rang out 'The Giver'… I think I mentioned that on my bio… Anyway, thanks for the review!

[dances They met! They met! Yay! Finally!

Now I just have to play up their real 'first encounter'…]


	9. Chapter 08

Disclaimer: Here's my plan: I kidnap Rumiko Takahashi, and undergo major plastic surgery to make myself look exactly like her. Sounds good?

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

- change in scenery or time

--

Previously, on Lock Down:

{"It's you…

… You…

…Ki-

Kikyou…"}

--

Encounter

--

Feb.27.299 NA

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

Inuyasha could only stare dumbly at the girl before him.

Surely, it was _her_! It had been two years, but _her_ image still blazed in his mind. _Her_ elegant and cool beauty still taunted him with what he could not have. What had been so close, yet so far for him to reach.

Kikyou.

Two years. It had been long two years.

She would be twenty years of age now- Three years older than Inuyasha himself was.

Two years since she- since she had betrayed him. Since he had discovered the truth. That it had all been a plot from the beginning. That she'd been working for them all along. He'd truly thought-

No. He shook his head. He wouldn't think of that right now. It was still far too painful.

As he snapped back to reality, the dazed expression on Inuyasha's face twisted in to a sneering one.

"So, Kikyou," He spat _her_ name like it was something disgusting, "What are you doing here? Thought you had to go work for your Government?"

Kagome frowned. Kikyou? Who was this girl? Just who did this guy think he was?

"Well, Kikyou? Aren't you going to answer me? Or are you just as two-faced as ever?"

Her eyes narrowed, and her expression became most foul. She marched up to the boy, and stabbed her finger into his chest. "Kikyou, Kikyou! Whoever she is, I'm not her! I am Kagome! Say it with me: Ka. Go. Me! You don't just go around New Tokyo accusing people, idiot!"

The boy had unbelievably wide eyes. This… wasn't Kikyou?

Wait.

His eyes narrowed.

Now that he had a better view of her, he could see differences. This girl had bluish eyes while Kikyou's had been more of a grey hue. This girl's hair was clearly younger than Kikyou must be. She appeared to be his own age. This girl, Kagome, was it? Kagome had an air of innocence surrounding her, while Kikyou had been darker and more mysterious. She couldn't have been Kikyou. _She_ never shouted.

Wait- this wench had the audacity to lecture him?

Taking a step back from the girl, Inuyasha sniffed disdainfully. He turned his nose upwards to disguise his embarrassment. "You're right. You're _not_ Kikyou. She was prettier- a beauty. Smarter too."

Kagome's mouth dropped wide open in surprise. How _dare_ he! To send her crashing to the ground without so much of an apology, then _insulting_ her? Who _was_ this guy? She locked eyes with him in a furious glare. She noted that he had strange slitted eyes.

"Why you…" She couldn't think of a worse enough name for him, "You…"

The boy was clearly enjoying her shock, going as far as giving a few suggestions, "What? Jerk? Ditwad? Bastard?"

"You… you…"

"Hottie!"

Azure eyes wide once more, Kagome turned to gape at her friends. All three were grouped together and looking at the boy as if he were the last man on Earth. Stars sparkling in their eyes, and drool nearly clearing the corner of their mouths; the girls were obviously appreciating his… physical aspects.

From the look on the boy's face, he was shocked as well. It was really quite comical- the wide eyes, wide-open mouth, stiff posture. Kagome would have laughed if not for her baffled astonishment.

The group earned quite a few gawks from the people passing them by.

The blue-eyed girl stared, dumbfounded. "What?"

Shuffling closer to Kagome, the others whispered none too quietly in her ear while keeping an eye on the now uncomfortably shifting boy to make sure he didn't escape.

"Can't you see? He's CUTE!"

"You have to love the hair!"

"His eyes are so deep!"

"That body!"

"The attitude!"

"The hot ASS!"

Yuka's last comment was quite loud, drawing yet more stares from the surrounding people. The boy in question now looked more than just a little frightened, slowly shuffling away from the romantically unbalanced girls. Kagome could only gape at the others in half-surprise, and half agreement- he was quite cute after all, despite his disposition.

She blushed.

And then mentally cursed. He was a moron, for god's sake!

Eri, a predatory glint in her eyes, left the group and advanced on the new boy. Looking much like a cornered mouse, he could only watch, an expression of apprehension on his face, as the girl approached.

She stopped in front of him, suddenly looking quite innocent.

"Why, hello there! I'm Eri. What's your name?"

Not thinking clearly from the shock of having somebody 'coming on' to him, the boy answered, "Er… Inuyasha…" The girl latched onto his arm, making the teenager's eyes widen even further. "Um… hi?"

She batted her eyelashes, a deceptively sweet smile crossing her face. "What do you say about hanging with us for a while, hmm?"

"Umm… Well…" A furious blush spread across the bewildered Inuyasha's face.

Watching the scene with growing anxiety, Kagome abruptly turned away.

She couldn't watch this anymore.

Her other two friends looked at her curiously, "Kagome-chan? Is something wrong?"

"No- Nothing's wrong."

Kagome mentally beat her head against a brick wall. Why was she acting this way? It wasn't as if she were attracted to him- they had just met! Although, she did admit, he was kind of cute…

No! He was a pig-headed jerk! Not cute!

Ayumi and Yuka watched as Kagome slapped a hand to her forehead. She appeared to be debating with herself in a most serious issue. Flushed cheeks, balled fists, and- was she jealous?

They turned to each other, exchanging knowing grins.

It looked like Kagome was experiencing her first crush…!

Yuka rushed forward to the flirting girl and pulled her off of the now relieved boy. "I have to talk to you, Eri-chan…" She smiled at Inuaysha. "Be back in a moment!"

Ignoring Eri's objections, Yuka dragged the struggling girl towards the other two. Inuyasha scratched his head, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like, 'crazy females'.

"What is it?" demanded the pouting girl.

Yuka took a deep breath. "Girls, I think that Kagome should have this one."

The aforementioned girl whipped around in shock. "WHAT?!"

Eri sulked. "Why does Kagome get the cute one?"

"Because this her first time," Ayumi patiently explained, "And she should get the opportunity to express her creativity to the opposite gender before she gets paired up with some man by the Government. It's a great opportunity."

The others stared at her.

"That was… logical," mumbled Eri, "But why Inuyasha-kun?"

Yuka placed a hand on either of the pouting girl's shoulder. "Because, Eri-chan, he is Kagome's first crush."

The blue-eyed girl broke into the explanation, "He is NOT!"

They turned doubtfully to her.

"Then who was your first?" questioned Ayumi.

"Well… erm… nobody…"

Eri raised an eyebrow. "Don't you find him cute?"

Kagome turned pink again. "… Yes…" She stared at her shoes.

"See? You're turning red already."

Eri sighed, submitting to her friend. "Fine. He's yours, Kagome-chan. The things I do…"

The raven-haired teenager's head shot up. "What do you mean?!" Her temper was back. "He's not just some slab of meat I can go and just buy, you know? And besides, there's no point in doing those types of things when I'm just going to end up with Miroku guy…"

Ayumi sidled up to her side. "That's the point. Before you do meet your partner, where's the harm in… testing the selection a little? It's not like it'll be anything serious. It's just some harmless playing. You'll be able to compare who you got to who you _could_ have gotten!"

"Try it, Kagome-chan!" encouraged Yuka, "It's pretty fun."

She stared at her flatly. "Flirting… is fun?"

Eri butted in, "Sure it is! It's all just a game, anyway. We came out to have fun, right? Well then, go and have some fun! Forget school for a while! Forget the Government- everything! Take a chance!"

Kagome nodded slowly.

That was true.

She _had_ gone out on this trip to free herself a little, and to forget everything for a while.

Her shoulders became set and a determined expression flicked over her face.

"I'll do it."

The other three discreetly cheered, Eri having forgotten that she had 'placed a claim' over the boy. But getting Kagome to do anything out of the regular was a task to be proud of- she was such a polite girl.

Kagome breathed in slowly, and cracked her knuckles- by the actions she was taking, one would think she were preparing for a battle.

Which, in her opinion, wasn't far from the truth.

Nodding determinedly, the blue-eyed smiled at her friends and turned around. She let out her breath in a whoosh.

"Hey-" She cut herself short. "What?"

There was nobody there. Only the constant flow of strangers filled her vision.

The boy had fled.

* * *

Inuyasha hurried through the streets of the commercial district.

That had been freaky!

Never before, had he been eyed by a, let alone three, girls with something other than malice in their eyes. That particular girl- Eri, was it?- had made him extremely nervous. Nobody had been that close to him without the intention of causing injury- except for his mother, but that was beyond the point.

And that Kagome girl.

Her visual similarity to Kikyou still put him off kilter when he thought about it, For a moment, he had been _sure_ that he'd bumped into _her_ again.

And that wasn't necessarily a good thing either.

Of course, he hated _her_ now.

…

Inuyasha steered his thoughts away from _her_ for the time being. It was still quite painful.

Even though he'd had two years to recover.

Glancing upwards, the boy's mind barely registered on the fact that the buildings were becoming shorter, yet larger. His gait slowed, as the image of a girl filled his mind.

He was still thinking about her.

Not _her_, but her.

She had been so much more innocent looking and emotional- in a good way. _She_ had rarely ever shown emotion. That wench appeared to be fairly normal despite her strange boy-driven friends. He didn't know if _she_'d had any friends…But that Kagome had seemed to be nicer, even…

Damn it!

Why couldn't he get that girl's face out of his mind? Was his brain broken or something?

Whenever he thought of the blue-eyed girl who called herself Kagome, he would inadvertently compare her to Kikyou. It was annoying, but he couldn't stop it!

Stopping on the streets, the boy shook his head, as if that action would clear his thoughts. Raising his gaze from the asphalt ground, he looked up again, mind thankfully clear.

He froze.

Shit.

Where… where was he?

In his hurry to escape the strange humans, Inuyasha had completely disregarded the fact that he couldn't be sure where everything was. He examined hi surroundings.

Wait.

These buildings were… strangely familiar.

They were large, white, dome-topped buildings. Almost like…

They looked like… the boy's gaze fell upon the tip of a black dome rising above the mass of white.

They were student settlements! Exactly like those in his Division!

Blinking, the teenager slowly walked forward, examining the smooth walls of the closet buildings. He frowned, bringing up the mental map of the Demon Division.

'Let's see… if the school was here, and the commercial district were here…"

He blinked again, this time in complete surprise.

From his calculations, he'd wandered for about an hour, provided the Human Division coincided with the Demon one. Which, knowing the Superior's aim for perfection, it probably did.

Inuyasha continued to wander around in the educational district, occasionally catching glimpses of groups of students. This place wasn't nearly as crowded as the commercial district, but that was probably due to the fact that most of the people were in their homes, most likely sleeping.

It was pretty late, after all.

22:18

That walk around the shops had taken a lot longer than he'd have thought. But he still had about seven hours before the sun rose.

Lots of time to explore this place.

He walked around absently, strolling past the individual buildings.

That Kagome had been wearing a blue arm band… She was most likely a student. She probably lived in this area. He wondered what school she went to…

'Dammit!'

There he went again, thinking about that girl. What the hell was wrong with him? He'd met her only once, got a sample of her strange personality, and now he couldn't get his mind off of her for ten minutes! Stopping dead in the middle of the road, Inuyasha silently berated himself for his traitorous thoughts.

Then he turned to his left.

And tensed.

For right in front of him, was an android.

An android that was staring right at him.

'Shit…'

Grinning rather uncertainly, he waved at the humanoid machine. It made no move to do anything, but its eyes stayed trained on the one boy out of ten others. There was no expression on the pale, metal face. The smile becoming even more strained, Inuyasha hastily walked away, speeding up with every step. Glancing back, the boy noticed that the android had removed its gaze, and was now searching another target.

He let out a breath.

That had been… a little close.

Too close for his liking.

Once he had jogged a respectable distance away from the android, the now lavender eyed boy slowed down to a walk. Inuyasha leaned against a building and glanced around. Once again, while trying to escape something, he had no clue where he was.

He was still surrounded by student settlements, but they were definetly thinning out. In fact, the building he was leaning against was made from a grey coloured concrete rather than white or black. Grey meant one thing- it was a library.

Curiousity struck the hanyou, and he found himself headed towards the large glass doors. He wondered- what reading material was kept in these places? It was obvious that everything distributed to the public was regulated, and pre-checked before it was published, but what kind of books _were_ given to the humans?

Pushing aside the wide doors, Inuyasha strolled inside. His eyes were met with a large, circular- the Government seemed to have a thing for circles- room that was filled with bookshelves. The bookselves, in turn, were stacked with hundreds of books. In all aspects, this library was exactly similar to the ones in the Demon Division.

Although this wasn't a very big building, the boy estimated that there must have been at least twenty thousand pieces of reading material in the place. However, the question was what the books were about, not how many there were.

Cracking his knuckles, the boy walked over to a shelf, ignoring the two androids standing at the front desk. He pulled off several books, and sauntered over to a low metal table. It would take a while to scan over each one, but what the hell.

He had a lot of time to waste.

* * *

Kagome trailed after her friends, who were chatting excitedly. She only nodded here and there, not really participating in, or indeed, listening to the conversation. They seemed to have forgotten that boy while spending several hours walking around the commercial district.

Inuyasha, was it?

The blue-eyed girl sighed.

She didn't know whether to be relieved that he had fled, or to feel insulted. After all, he had left without saying so much as a 'goodbye', or anything. Annoyance bubbled up within the teenager.

He was a jerk after all.

But then why couldn't she get her mind off of him?!

'He was kind of cute…'

Suddenly realising what she had thought, Kagome muttered in irritation. She had to admit, he _had_ been appealing to her eyes. It was just the personality that struck her as odd.

He'd just seemed so… defensive about everything. And who was it he'd thought she was? 'Kikyou'? When he'd said her name, there had been something in his expression that she just couldn't interpret. It was something akin to hurt- had this 'Kikyou' hurt him?

In fact, now that she thought about it, hurt hadn't been the only emotion swirling in those lavender orbs. There had been an entire myriad of expressions that flickered here and there. But the most prominent one had been a look of absolute loneliness. True, he had hidden it extremely well with cockiness, but Kagome had always been good in deciphering what a person truly felt.

A lot of this Inuyasha person was shrouded in mystery, and for some reason, Kagome wanted to unearth them all. She wanted to reveal the pain, and heal the emotional scars. She'd always been a caring person. She'd hated seeing anybody feeling down when they could be having fun and enjoying life to the fullest. It was almost somewhat of a passion she had- to help people.

But why the boy had struck a cord so deep within her soul was unknown to the girl herself.

"Eh, Kagome-chan?"

The girl snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh?"

Yuka heaved an exasperated sigh. "Kagome-chan, you weren't listening, were you?"

Kagome kicked her toe. "…Not really…"

"You were thinking about Inuyasha-kun, weren't you?" Eri smiled knowingly.

"What?" A pale pink tinge appeared over her face. "Of course not!"

"Yes you were!"

Ayumi jumped in, saving the day. "Yuka asked you whether or not you wanted to get that new book you've been wanting. In fact, your birthday's coming up, isn't it? We'll get it for you for your birthday!"

Kagome waved her hands in front of her. "No, it's okay. I'm getting a little tired. I think it's about time I headed back home."

Yuka checked her watch. "It's only three thirty!"

The girl gave Yuka a deadpanned stare. "_Only_ three thirty? Only?! Are you crazy? It's early into the morning! The sun's going to be rising in just _two_ hours!"

Yuka shrugged. "Tomorrow… er… Today's a free day anyway. We don't have school on Day Sevens, remember? I can always catch up on sleep later."

Ayumi stifled a yawn, "I think Kagome-chan's right. It is getting too late, and I'm tired."

"I still have homework to do," added Eri.

"Can't we stay out for just one more hour? I'm still looking for that old school textbook," begged Yuka. "Shopping's no fun alone!"

Kagome sighed and bowed her head. "Fine."

Her friend smiled and dragged her along, waiting for the other two to follow.

Kagome shook her head.

The things she did for her friends…

* * *

A jaw-cracking yawn broke a teenaged boy's face. Inuyasha blinked weary eyes, and picked up the pile of books he had created beside his chair. Ever since he had entered the library, the boy had scanned over book after book. Some things had been boring, describing events that he already knew. Others had been a little more interesting, but in all the books that Inuyasha had skimmed, there had been one prevailing theme:

The Government is good- listen to the Government.

He also noticed that none of the books described any humans ever taking a stand for themselves. There was no mention of demons except for in the most negative of uses. It was like everything was written by some brain dead person who adored being controlled.

He snorted.

That was probably true…

The truth was, the information stowed away in the books were really quite similar to that fed to the demons. Only, issues regarding the two races were flipped over.

Inuyasha stood up and stretched his aching limbs. Sitting on one position on a stiff metal chair did wonders to one's physique. Leaving the books to the library staff, the boy meandered to the doors and exited the library. The androids paid no attention to the long-haired boy.

He was of no threat.

The boy walked outside and was greeted by the lightening sky. At first, this information didn't process through the teenager's hazy mind, as he walked in the general direction of the student settlements. Another yawn wreaked his body.

Then he froze mid-yawn.

Wait a minute.

Light purple eyes snapped open.

'Oh shit, shit, shit…'

Inuyasha recited every curse word he had ever learned in his head. And that was a long list.

This was NOT happening! It COULDN'T be!

Oh, but it was.

For the sky was steadily becoming brighter, and colours were just beginning to streak the sky.

Inuyasha broke into a frantic run, but he knew it would be of no use. The first ray of the sun lightened the dark city, and he felt slight tingles begin to stir within his body.

It was dawn.

He would be returning to normal.

And just how many normal humans had dog-ears, fangs, and claws?

Rounding a bend, the boy skidded to a full stop, and retreated to hide behind the corner.

'Damnit!'

Panic began to well up in the boy. This was NOT good. Several androids were slowly making their way towards where he hid, and Inuyasha knew that he would be toast if they were to catch sight of him. So he looked for an escape route.

He could feel as his ears moved to the top of his head, and as dull nails sharpened into deadly claws. His vision abruptly sharpened, Inuyasha caught sight of an open window.

It was several metres above the ground, but he was certain he could make it. He had to.

Clunking footsteps drew closer.

Desperately, the hanyou sprung off the ground in an unnaturally high jump.

'Come on…!'

Inuyasha grabbed hold of the ledge just under the window. He quickly pulled himself over the ledge.

And when the android walked around the corner, they saw nothing but an empty ally.

He was safe- for now.

* * *

-- SniperGirl

Thanks! I'll try to keep the chapters at the best of my ability!

-- a

Update soon… a little later than I would have liked… but that's life, I suppose…

-- TitianWren

Thanks! I guess this story is more suited for the more mature readers? Oh well. It doesn't matter. As long as you enjoy reading it, I'm happy!

-- Gueshoo

Thanks for the review, and I did mention it, but you hit the nail dead on the head without knowing, so it's still all good… Don't feel foolish!

-- Katami

Indeed. At the rate we're using up our natural resources… ::shakes head:: I just hope that we'll be able to find some new ones to make up for the ones we're rapidly depleting…

[This chapter was a little harder to get started, but once I passed the thousand-word mark, the chapter was easier to write from there.

Ahh… the cliché meeting… I couldn't resist putting that in there. At least they met, ne? Of course, they didn't stay together for long. And no, it wasn't 'love at first sight', they're just really quite interested in each other.

Whooo… the word "Kikyou" was used 17 times on this page…

I was actually going to add more to this section, to make it a sort of a cliffie, but… nah.

The story's (finally) beginning to heat up!

Till next time…

Ja!]


	10. Chapter 09

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha… yet.

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

- change in scenery, time, or perspective

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{Inuyasha grabbed hold of the ledge just under the window. He quickly pulled himself over the ledge.

And when the android walked around the corner, they saw nothing but an empty ally.

He was safe- for now.}

.

Important: I'm leaving for Italy on the 1st of June, and won't be able to update for about two, or even three weeks! Gomen!

.

Situation

.

Feb.28.299 NA

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

.

Kagome yawned as she and her tired friends made their way back to their living quarters. Despite having agreed on staying out for only one extra hour, Yuka had somehow conned the others into shopping until the night was almost over. Now, armed with her sole purchase of a thick textbook, the blue-eyed girl trudged through the streets nearing the educational district.

"Almost there, just a bit further," groaned Eri.

Yuka looked up with bleary eyes. "Tell me why we stayed out that late, again?"

The other three threw annoyed glances at her, but then dropped their heads, too tired to keep them up.

"It was your idea, Yuka-chan. Remind me never to listen to you again," declared Ayumi.

Kagome spoke up, "Never listen to Yuka again."

"…What?"

"You said to remind you that… You know what? Never mind. I'm too tired to explain. Figure it out on your own."

Silence fell over the sleepy girls. The student settlements increased around the girls as they walked homewards. They soon passed the scanner android that was always stationed near their living quarters.

Not soon, student settlement 109 came into view, and Eri sighed in relief. "Finally! We're here! Home, oh glorious home!"

"Shut up Eri, I just want to sleep all day long. We are never doing that… ever again," groused Yuka

"I remind you, it was your idea to stay out so late," remarked Kagome dryly. "You have yourself to thank."

The sun rose over the horizon in a brilliant display of colour as Eri pushed into the glass doors leading into the building. They stumbled through the hallways, too tired to properly greet the few housemates and classmates who had bothered to get out of bed so early. The passing students stared at them questioningly, but received no response from the group of girls. They shrugged and continued on their way to an early breakfast.

The three girls left Kagome at a fork in the hallway, headed towards their own rooms on the other side of the settlement. That was one of the things about living as a student of the Government- you couldn't change your room once you chose it, although the four friends had tried.

"Good night, or morning… Whatever, Kagome-chan," said Ayumi, and the others nodded in agreement.

Yuka rubbed her temples. "You guys probably won't see me until tomorrow. I have a horrible headache right now."

Kagome waved and turned down the left fork as her fires took the right one. Her room was one of those located on the outer edge of the building, and was one of the few that had a window. She had been lucky enough to have been transferred into the student settlement earlier than everybody else to have picked her own room. While it sometimes proved a nuisance, letting in sunlight when she wanted to sleep in, the small opening was a thankful addition. It allowed fresh air and natural light to filter into the room. The other rooms were lighted solely through artificial means.

The blue-eyed girl neared room 137 and took out her personal identification card. A weary smile flitted over her face at the relief of finally reaching her room of four years.

'Finally, I can catch up on my sleep.'

As she slid her ID through the key slot, a sudden prickling began at the back of her neck. It only increased when her hand touched on her doorknob. It was a curious feeling that seemed to be a sort of warning to her of something to come.

The schoolgirl shook her head in silent laughter. 'You're imagining things, Kagome.' She turned the knob and stepped into the dark room.

Wait.

Dark?

'I thought I left the blinds open…' mused the raven-haired girl. She shrugged it off. 'It doesn't matter. I'm just going to get some sleep.'

Kagome yawned and stretched as she closed her door. It shut with a quiet click. But just then, the tingling grew, and she had the strangest feeling that she wasn't alone in her room. Something was definitely wrong.

She froze.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded small in the complete silence of her room.

Suddenly, a hand covered Kagome's mouth, and somebody grabbed her from behind.

Her heavy textbook dropped to the floor. Whoever it was must have been hiding behind the door. She tried to struggle, but the person's grip was too strong for the teenager. Muffled screams tore desperately from her throat, but were too soft for anybody to hear. She attempted to elbow her attacker, but the girl's arms were held firmly in place at her side.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, and all signs of sleepiness had disappeared off in an instant. Thoughts flew wildly through her head- none of which were particularly pleasant. Kagome tried to bite down on the hand over her mouth, but it had been curved, as if her captor had anticipated for her to try that very maneuver.

An unmistakably masculine voice caused her to fall silent instantly. "Don't speak. Don't move. Don't struggle. Don't do anything. Or I'll kill you."

* * *

Inuyasha flattened his body against the wall of the room he had jumped into. He stayed still. If he had been just a few seconds too late…

Not soon enough, the clunking of the androids' footsteps passed away into silence. His doggy ears twitched, catching any sound, but there was none. He leapt up and drew the blinds closed.

He breathed a sigh of relief. That had been way _too_ close.

He waited for his quickened heart beat to slow down. Then he looked around the room.

It was a room in a student settlement.

It appeared to be the same as his own, if not smaller. There was a small bed right beside him and a door across the room from it. The closet was located beside the door with a small mirror on the opposite wall. An opening lead to what he assumed to be the bathroom. From all appearances, the resident wasn't here- probably an early riser.

'Or a really late sleeper…'

The fading scent, however, told the hanyou that the person had left many hours before hand- than meant they would be probably getting back soon.

He walked over to the mirror and examined himself.

Silver hair. Dog ears. Slitted amber eyes. Claws.

'Great. How the hell am I supposed to get back now?'

He was thankful that it was a Day Seven, which meant there was no school. It also meant he had a day to figure out how to get back to the Demon Division without having to wait for the new moon. He couldn't go out now, since humans were starting to populate the streets again, and if he were to reveal himself…

Let's just say it wouldn't be pretty.

The hanyou tossed back onto the bed and took in a deep breath. It smelled like… vanilla. In fact, the entire room was saturated in the scent of fresh vanilla flowers with just the tiniest hint of lavender. Flower scents usually belonged to females. The student who lived here must be a girl.

For some reason, Inuyasha was calmed by the fragrance, and his tensed muscles relaxed considerably. The fatigue that came from staying up all night as a human came back after the adrenaline had worn off. Now that the danger had been thrown off, the half-demon began to feel at ease. All of the problems began to fade away, until he wasn't thinking about how to get out of the Human Division anymore.

Vaguely, he wondered what the owner of the sweet scent was.

There had only been one person who owned a scent that had even remotely calmed him.

But of course, he hated _her_ now…

Amber eyes began to slowly drift shut. Even the dog-ears atop of his ear drooped in the calm atmosphere. The hanyou was beginning the visit to the land of dreams…

Then, there was a swishing sound followed by a click.

At first, this noise and what it signalled didn't register in Inuyasha's head, but when the door of the room slowly began to creak open, the hanyou became of the sudden increase in the soothing scent. Alarms rang all over his mind, and thinking quickly, he jumped behind the slowly opened door. He scratched his arm on something sharp in his haste, but ignored it.

From the outline of the person, it was definitely a female.

He held his breath, limbs tensed, as he silently berated himself for nearly falling asleep. Right, escape the androids to be caught by a human. Stupid!

The person paused, probably considering the darkness of the room. He readied himself as they casually swung the door closed without looking back. She seemed to be extremely tired for one reason or another.

Then, she stiffened, and Inuyasha knew that something had clicked in her head.   
"Hello?"

She knew that she wasn't alone in her room, so he did the first thing that had entered his mind.

He grabbed her.

Clapping a clawed hand over her opened mouth, the half-demon was able to stop her from screaming what was probably meant to be an extremely loud shout. The other arm swung around her midsection, effectively pinning her arms to her sides, and braced himself by leaning into the wall.

Predictably, the girl began to try to thrash, and yelled into his hand. Insults and muffled screams that would have been incomprehensible to the average human reached fuzzy dog-ears, and Inuyasha nearly winced at her surprisingly broad vocabulary.

She tried to bite through his hand, and not wanting to risk any marks or punctures, the hanyou cupped it.

It was getting a little annoying, having to restrain her. So he stopped her the only way he knew how at the moment.

"Don't speak. Don't move. Don't struggle. Don't do anything. Or I'll kill you." Even the boy himself was surprised at the deep, threatening quality of his voice.

Of course, he didn't _mean_ anything by it.

…

So it was less than civilised, at least it stopped the girl from thrashing!

Bending his head down to speak into her ear, he warned her softly, "I'm going to let you go, but you have to promise not to do anything, do you hear? You aren't going to move when I release you. No talking, no shouting."

She nodded.

"And just to let you know, if you do try to do something, I have the… resources to kill you immediately, understand, wench?" He flexed the hand over her mouth, digging his claws into her skin slightly.

She gave a barely audible whimper, and nodded again.

He could hear her swallow thickly.

She was scared. That was good.

It meant he would have some leverage in… dealing with her.

Slowly, cautiously, he removed the arm around her middle and the hand at her mouth. She still didn't move when she was completely free, and Inuyasha could tell that she was holding her breath.

He thought about tying something over his ears, but decided against it. Even without those furry appendages, the other unusual feature were more than adequate for someone to peg him as 'not completely human.'

"You can… turn around now."

She did so, gradually turning so that they were face to face.

There was a pause.

His mouth dropped open.

"It's you!"

The first thought that had registered in Kagome's brain was that the person was younger than she'd thought. In fact, he couldn't have been older than she herself was.

The second, was the fact that he had the absolute _cutest_ _dog-ears_!

Wait.

Dog-ears?

That… wasn't normal, was it?

The boy's sudden exclamation had left her completely baffled. How did this guy recognise her, and from where? She most certainly would have remembered meeting, or even seeing somebody who had a pair of fuzzy white triangles perched on their head. At first, she started getting angry- even defensive about him breaking into her room, and rightfully so.

"What were you doing in my room, pervert?!"

Inuyasha was taken back. "Didn't I tell you not to speak?"

"Get out, get out, get out!"

He advanced towards her and reached out. That was when she caught sight of the cut on the side of his arm, and all hostile thoughts flew out of the window in an instant.

"Oh, you're hurt!" she drew the surprised boy to her. "Let me see."

The hanyou gaped at the girl who was suddenly handling his cut arm remarkably gently. What was wrong with her? He'd broken into her room, manhandled her, threatened her, and now she was helping him? Then, there was also that whole demon thing… but she didn't even care… or realise?

He yanked his arm out of her grasp. "H-hey! It's just a cut! I heal fast!"

And indeed, the nip had already closed, steadily become less visible. Kagome stared at him in awe.

Just what was he?

Then her thoughts turned back to the ears.

Those absolutely adorable, twitching, fuzzy, white dog-ears!

The female unconsciously reached out to pet them, but he stepped back.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing, wench?"

Kagome remained surprisingly calm, cocking her head to the side. "Why do you have dog-ears? You look a little familiar, I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Inuyasha gaped at her. _Had they met before_? Didn't she _remember_? And then it clicked. Of course she didn't remember him. She'd met his human image. Now, as long as he kept it that way, everything would turn out just fine.

Right, keep telling yourself that.

Kagome studied the boy in front of her critically. For some reason, even though he definitely wasn't normal, the fact that she was still alive and whole testified to the fact the he really wasn't too bad a person. Now, if she could only figure out why he looked so familiar…

The azure-eyed girl suddenly gasped, and walked right up to the boy. Of course! She covered the ears with her hands before he could stop her, and then examined his face from that angle.

"You're that guy! I… Inuyasha!"

He mentally punched himself. So much for remaining mysterious.

Kagome slowly put together all the pieces of the puzzle, "Inu…Yasha? Dog demon…?" She gasped again, "You're a demon?" The girl took a cautious step back, her fear returning. The weariness had evaporated from her mind, and adrenaline started to course through her. After all, the stories she'd been told weren't pleasant, and even if she doubted them, it didn't mean they weren't true.

The boy almost snorted- almost. "You just figured that out?"

"I-I thought it was sort of a birth defect… or something…" Kagome trembled.

Not knowing why, the hanyou suddenly had the urge to stop her from being afraid of him. It was just… a sort of gut instinct. This was quite possibly the only person in the entire Human Division who would have a civil conversation with him, and maybe she'd even be able to help her…?

He took a step towards her. "No! Not demon… I'm only half."

But she continued to step away, and he continued to advance. Not soon, she was backed into a corner, and very alarmed. When he reached out a hand- a claw-tipped hand, Kagome automatically stuck out hers in a defensive position.

"Get away!"

Abruptly, there was a blinding flash of white light, and Inuyasha felt a strange prickling all over his body. It was almost as it- but it couldn't be! It was almost like he was transforming- but it was daytime! But sure enough, the slight pain alerted to his rapidly changing body, and his eyes opened wide in bewilderment.

Kagome stared in astonishment as the boy in front of her turned before her very eyes. In a matter of a few seconds, the demon had disappeared, and the boy she had literally bumped into last night appeared.

She fingered a strand of his black hair. "Wha- what exactly _are_ you?"

The boy examined his body, still shocked that he'd been turned into a human by this… wench!

Turning around abruptly, Inuyasha sat crossly down on the bed. "Now do you believe me? I'm a hanyou. Half demon, half human." Critical lavender eyes turned to look at the girl. "I think the question is, what are _you_?"  
"What do you mean?" She answered with a question, not knowing why she was talking with a complete stranger who was probably more dangerous than she knew.

"You turned me into a human, wench. I only turn human once a month, yet you were able to do it." He stood up again and rounded on her with a suspicious eye. "You aren't a witch, are you, bitch?"

Kagome's temper flared. "What who you're calling 'bitch', dog boy. The name's Kagome." She pushed him back onto the bed.

Inuyasha was surprised, and a little impressed. He would have thought that she'd be screaming by now, but this girl was still as fiery as when they'd first met.

She paced around her room. "Okay. So you're a hanyou- a half demon, who somehow ended up in my room, threatened me, and got purified by me. And you were here in the Human Division last night as a human. Wait- how did you get here? And why am I talking to you? Shouldn't I be running around and alerting the authorities to you? What's wrong with me?!" She ran to the door. "I should just call the androids right now!"

The boy hopped off the bed in a hurry, and grabbed her arm. "Don't- please!"

Kagome looked back and was startled by the amount of desperation in those purple orbs. She shook the hand off and crossed her arms. "Then tell me why you're here."

Inuyasha sat on the floor. "Well, it's a long story…"

She joined him. "I'm listening."

Why he trusted this girl, he didn't know. Maybe it was the fact that she hadn't freaked out at him (too much) and was giving him a chance to explain himself. But for some reason, he knew that this Kagome wasn't going to judge him that easily.

He took a deep breath and began his tale.

* * *

"And that's why I'm here now." Inuyasha finished, and took a sideways glance at the girl at his side, gauging her reaction.

She sat, contemplative. "So now you're looking for a way to get home?"

"Didn't I say that?"

She shot him an annoyed glare. Now that he had explained everything, she didn't feel nearly as threatened as she had before. "Well, you look human now, what's stopping you from getting out of here and back to your division, huh?"

Realisation struck the boy.

He looked down.

He _was_ human! He could have left this place a long time ago, instead of sticking around talking to some girl!

"Damnit!" Inuyasha stood up and headed towards the window, getting ready to climb out.

Kagome rose with him. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going back to the Demon Division before I turn back, which could be any moment…" The hanyou drifted off as a tingling spread out through his body. "Fuck no!" But alas, whatever had turned him human to begin with had worn off, and the demon attributes came back.

The blue-eyed teenager calmly raised an eyebrow. "Well, looks like that didn't work."

Ears flicking back in annoyance, Inuaysha stomped back to the girl. "Whatever you did before, do it again! Purify me!"

She became defensive. "Do what? I don't know what I did!"

He flopped back onto the ground. "Shit. Now what?"

Doggy ears drooped in disappointment, and Kagome actually felt bad for the half-demon. Although it was really his fault that he was trapped in this situation, the fact that she could have done something to help him made it worse.

"I'll… I'll try."

Golden eyes looked up. "What?"

She walked over to him. "I said, I'll try. I don't know how I did it, but maybe I can figure it out."

Inuyasha stood up and silently appraised the girl. She was willing to help him even after all he had done to her.

"But first…"

He raised an eyebrow. "First?" There was always an ulterior motive.

She crossed her arms. "First, you have to let me touch your ears."

Gritting his teeth, the hanyou leaned forward reluctantly. An eager smile lit her face, and small hands reached out for the fuzzy appendages. He found himself almost wincing as her fingers brushed them, but her touch was gentle and not at all painful compared to what the demons had done to his ears. Actually, he found the slow rub quite soothing, and found a low growl starting to well up inside of him.

He straightened abruptly, stopping the growl before it happened, and turned a soft pink colour. "There. Now do what you have to do and get me outta here."

The female resisted the urge to pout. She had been enjoying that. Back home, she'd had a fat cat named Buyo, for obvious reasons. When she'd been moved to the student settlement, the beloved Buyo had been left home, leaving Kagome quite lonely.

This half-demon's ears had been warm and delightfully soft. While she'd rubbed them, she could almost feel the muscles relaxing under her grip.

Kagome sighed and nodded, laying a hand on his upper arm. She closed her eyes, and began a sort of mantra in her head. 'Turn human. Turn human. Turn human.'

She opened her eyes.

Nothing.

He was still silver-haired.

The girl squeezed her eyes shut and put all of her effort into purifying the demon blood in Inuyasha. She could feel no physical signs, but all of a sudden, there was a curious sort of stirring starting up somewhere in her spirit that was oddly warm and comforting. Kagome concentrated on that warmth, gradually dragging it out until her entire body felt calm and at peace.

Soon, a soft flash lit the room, and Inuyasha felt the familiar indications of transformation. In a matter of a few seconds, a black-haired boy stood where a silver-haired one had been before.

"It worked!"

His affirmation brought Kagome back to earth, and she grinned. "Wow. I didn't know I could do that… it's so… COOL!"

The girl released his arm, but as soon as she did so, Inuyasha's eyes widened, and his hair began to turn silver- though not entirely from shock.

"What?" he gasped. For the third time that day, Inuyasha turned hanyou, and he stared at the other teenager. "What happened?"

She shrugged, perplexed. "I don't know."

"Try again," demanded the boy.

Kagome rolled her eyes and placed a hand on his arm again. "Yes, your highness."

But this time, she didn't need to tell him to change, and the turn happened as soon as she had contact with the hanyou. It was almost like just willing for the hanyou to turn human would make it happen. He was human… again. Experimentally, the girl broke contact with he hanyou, and black started to lighten. She touched him again, and his hair darkened. "Interesting…" She repeated the process several times in intrigue. "Wow. Black… silver… black… silver…"

Inuyasha glared at her irritably and snatched her arm. "Stop playing around, wench. Let's go."

Kagome frowned, and threatened to move her hand. "Stop calling me 'wench', or I won't help you."

He sighed. "Fine, fine, _Kagome_. Now can we go?"

Kagome grinned rather widely at him. Ignoring the boy's protest, the girl slid her hand so that it rested in his, and looked determinedly away. "It's easier like this." She didn't add in the fact that she felt something warm and fuzzy in her, or the fact that she was blushing.

The hanyou flushed as well, but didn't reject her hand, and fixed his grip. They headed towards the door of the room and she opened it. "Now, whatever you do, don't let go of my hand. Don't talk to other people- just ignore them."

He glared at the back of her head sullenly as they headed down the hallway, earning stares from many of the students. "Yeah yeah, _mother_." 

All though the student settlement, they walked, hand in hand, looking for the entire world, like a couple. Several of the girls sighed in disappointment. Pulling aside the main doors, Kagome marched forwards, pulling the boy with her.

They continued walking through the streets silently, ignoring the glances from many of the people who were on their way to work or other districts. Kagome inwardly groaned at the amount of explaining she would have to do once the next day rolled around. Then there would be her friends who would undoubtedly question her about the mystery man.

The minutes trickled by, and the two teens' faces continued to grow hotter as they attracted gaze after gaze.

Not soon enough, it seemed, the business district came into view, and the two all but broke into a run. However, the streets had become crowded as it was early morning, and people were making their way to work. The place was way too bustling for anyone to really notice two students in the sea of grey and black.

All Inuyasha could think about was the fact that he was nearing the edge of the territory soon, and he sped up. The divider was in plain sight, and surely, nobody would really watch him cross over, would they? He took off into a run.

However, in doing so, he had inadvertently yanked his hand out of Kagome's grasp.

Time seemed to slow for the two, as their contact was broken, and their mouths dropped open. Blue met rapidly changing lavender in horrified glance before it turned amber.

The two froze.

Black turned silver.

Twitching dog-ears perched on top of his head.

And although nobody would have noticed two _black_-haired teenagers, somebody with _silver_ hair stood out like a sore thumb in the sea of black heads. No one really paid attention to Kagome since she had separated from the hanyou before he'd turned.

Inuyasha's ears twitched nervously, and Kagome bit her lip.

The noise in the business district lulled, and all became very, _very _quiet as everybody's attention became fixed onto the strange boy in their midst. Mouths dropped open, and several pointed out the curious dog-ears atop his head, trying to figure out if they were real, or just an attachment.

Not a single sound broke through the dead silence.

That is, until Inuyasha summed up the entire situation in one word:

"Shit."

* * *

-- CJ-Chan

::grin:: Now why would you have thought _that_? But, yes, it was her window… coincidentally… .

-- Shadow Stone

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! I hope I don't disappoint…!

-- Seida02

Update? Here it is!

-- buyo neko

Glad you like it!

* * *

[Now, does that count as a cliffy? ;;

I've set up a notify list for Lock Down, and if you want in on it, go there.

Wow… Kagome's a whole myriad of emotions… . I wonder why…?

I'm headed off to Italy! Italy! Italy!

So… it might be a little while before I can update… coughthree weekscough

I… am going to run away now…

AHHHHHHH!]


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Inuyasha ::sigh::

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

--- - change in scenery, time, or perspective

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{Not a single sound broke through the dead silence.

Until Inuyasha summed up the entire situation in one word:

"Shit."}

.

Falling

.

Feb.28.299 NA

New Tokyo, Human Division, Sector 118 

The one word seemed to snap the crowd out of its stupor as all pandemonium broke loose in the area. People were soon pushing and shoving- doing anything to get away from the 'freak'. It didn't matter who got pushed, or who fell down, all anybody thought about was for their own good will. Kagome tried desperately to push her way through the raging crowd, but the mass of people continued to push her further and further away from the hanyou.

"Inu-Inuyasha!"

Dog-ears twitched at the mention of his name, and Inuyasha searched around wildly for the girl… There! He headed towards a hand that was poking out from the top of the crowd and headed in its direction. However, this only increased the people's panic as they immediately assumed that the monster was planning to kill them-

Or worse.

He felt something akin to disappointment at the reaction of the humans. 'Looks like they don't accept me…' His mouth set into a grim line. 'Why would they? I'm just a _freak_.'

Nevertheless, the continued to pursue the girl's hand- why, he didn't know. He could just escape right now, but for some reason unknown to him, the boy wanted to make sure that the only person who had really helped him of her own accord was safe.

What was the saying?

Feed a dog once and it will be loyal forever?

He quickly made his towards the shuffling crowd, but the hand the half-demon was pursuing was somehow being pushed further and further away from him. The people took no notice of the struggling girl that was trying to push against their ranks. She was steadily being shoved towards wherever the crowd was going.

The boy ran quickly, but he was only succeeding in making the people go faster, travelling away from him. A growl built up in his chest at the reaction of the humans. They really were a foolish bunch.

Suddenly, Inuyasha stopped moving as a frightfully familiar noise reached his ears.

The- Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Of an android's heavy footsteps.

But it wasn't just one.

"No."

The hanyou turned around in horrid apprehension- and in the distance, was a thin line of flashing gold. A loud alert was sounded from the public speakers, signalling the dreaded Lock Down situation. Silence swept around the crowd, broken only by the loud beeps of the alarm.

Behind him, he could hear gasps coming from the crowd as it ran with renewed vigour towards the nearest building. The stampede rushed away from the danger. However, in all of the push and shove, they really weren't getting very far in too much speed.

His voice was barely above a whisper. "Oh hell no."

He was in for it now…

News travelled fast in New Tokyo.

And upon hearing that a dog-eared boy had been spotted in the Human Division, the Government had sent out the one group that was feared by all.

Red androids.

He looked desperately towards the barrier, but even if he left now, it would be too late. He would be hunted down and exterminated, like the Government had wanted to do years ago. They had been waiting for a reason, and now they had it. They would do everything they could to get rid of the smudge on their perfect world.

He was now a hunted person.

No matter where he went, Inuyasha was doomed.

The half-demon stood his ground, gritting his teeth as the shining army drew closer.

There was no other option.

Grimly, he cracked his knuckles, slowly stretching his limbs. Golden eyes scanned over the line of gold, and everything else steadily faded from his attention. The humans weren't important now.

He'd made his choice.

Hell, if he had to go, he might as well go out with a bang.

So absorbed in his thoughts was the hanyou, that he didn't notice the place had gone completely quiet. All the people had finally retreated into the nearest available buildings that had all been shut off in a sense. The windows had been covered, and the doors had been secured. The streets were completely empty.

Well, completely empty except for…

"Inuyasha!"

In complete shock, the half-demon whipped his head around so quickly that he had nearly given himself whiplash. "What the fuck?"

Running from where the crowd had pushed her, Kagome didn't stop until she had reached the boy's side, panting.

He stared at her angrily. "Why the hell are you still out here? Get outta my sight and into some building!"

The azure-eyed girl gaped at him. "I came back to you for your own good, and now you tell me to leave? Well I've got news for you, dog-boy: The buildings are locked! I can't get into one now! We'll have to make a break for it!"

He grabbed a hold of her shoulders, shaking her, albeit gently. "Are you crazy?! Look over there!" He pointed towards the rapidly growing line of androids. "See?! Those are android! Red ones! Coming for my fucking head! Why didn't you get safe when the alarm sounded anyway? Do you want to get killed too?! Nobody survives after seeing one of them!" His eyes were opened wide, and his voice was rough with barely suppressed fear

"That's… not true…" Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"What?" Inuyasha shook his head. "Nevermind. The point it, you are a stupid girl who is going to die. _Die_. Understand?! And I can't help you!"

"I… I just wanted to…" liquid began to pool in Kagome's eyes.

"H-hey! Stop it!" Inuyasha whisked his hand off as though she had burned him. "Hey! Don't cry! I can't stand it when people cry…!"

She sniffled. "H-how can I not? You said yourself: I'm going to die." Sudden realisation caused azure eyes to widen with complete horror. "I-I'm going to… die…" She was starting to hyperventilate.

He patted the girl's back awkwardly. "L-look. I'll try to… distract the androids, and you can escape. It's me they're after all. You shouldn't have to die when it was my fault… I'll… I'll protect you."

The black-haired student looked at him sorrowfully. "Are you going to die then?" She shook her head and shut her eyed tight. "I don't want you to get killed! No more death." She dropped to the ground onto her knees. Visions from the event she had witnessed flooded through her mind. "I hate it." Her shoulders tensed and shook. "No more."

The strong salty scent of tears hit the inu-hanyou's nose.

The sudden emotional swing threw the boy in for a loop. Why was she all panicked _now?_

Inuyasha froze at the amount of tension that had suddenly built in the air. It seemed to be heavy with something, and he could feel an uneasiness stir in his soul. Some unseen force was being emitted from the girl- something that was almost painful.

"No more…"

Suddenly, the ground seemed to shake as sobs began to wrack Kagome's body. Inuyasha watched in morbid horror as an eerie green light began to pulse from something on her chest. With every sob, the shaking grew worse, until small cracks began to appear in the unyielding concrete ground. Soon, joining the green pulses, an almost imperceptible pink light outlined the girl's form.

He kneeled next to her. "H-hey. What are you doing? Stop it!" He took hold of her shoulders again and shook her. "Stop!"

However, the girl didn't seem to hear him as she continued to mutter incoherently. When he got a good look at her face, Inuyasha saw that her eyes were wide open, but unfocused and unseeing. She was trapped in some nightmare that he had no way of knowing how to snap her out of.

He stood up partially, and shivered. The hanyou could feel something very wrong, as it seemed as though his blood was starting to boil. He chanced a desperate glance at where the androids were, and realised in consternation, that they were extremely close now. Another quake shook the ground, and Inuyasha very near yelped as a large crack appeared in the ground.

He was now faced with two very dangerous, potentially deadly elements. But right now, he was thinking for two, and he wasn't willing to risk another's life.

So he dropped down next to the shaking girl, hurriedly picking her up. Very carefully, the half-demon nudged her so that she was on his back. She was still ensnared in her own mind, seeing things that the hanyou could not. Getting ready, Inuyasha did something that he had never done, but for the sake of the girl on his back, he would sack his pride.

He was running away from the enemy.

Speeding off away from the incoming androids, he ran off like death was on his heals- which wasn't far from the truth.

Practically flying through the streets, the boy searched around desperately for someplace- anyplace he could hide in. He really wasn't trying to preserve his own life. As of the moment he'd crossed the divider a night ago, he'd sealed his own fate. He wanted to get as far away from the androids as he could to calm the girl down enough so that she could run and hide. As of now, her sobs had diminished somewhat, but he could still hear her erratically beating heart, and shaky breaths.

Luckily, the tremors had ceased, saving the Government from having to repair too many dents in their roads. Thoughts flew through the running hanyou's mind, focusing on what exactly this girl was, and why she had caused such an effect in the atmosphere. The energy that had radiated off of her… It had been intense.

For some reason, it had been alluring, and Inuyasha had felt a desire to take possession of that power, and to harness it. However, some of his primal instincts had screamed at him to run as far away as he could from the danger- self-preservation normally overruled all.

So he'd compromised.

He'd run away, taking the girl with him.

The boy spotted a small isolated alley that, for some reason, appeared to be appealing to him as a hiding spot. It was small, and at the end, was a pile of… something that he could hide behind.

Dashing into the narrow path, Inuyasha hopped over the lumps in a single bound, crouching to the rear of it. Regaining his breath, the hanyou gently brought the trembling girl in front of him. Her eyes were still glazed, but she had stopped mumbling, taking to staring listlessly at nothing. Sweat gathered on her forehead, her face was pale, yet redness filled her cheeks, and her small hands gripped onto the front of the boy's shirt.

Her mouth opened, yet no sound came out.

He cradled her shaking frame in his arms- something that he normally wouldn't have been caught dead doing. Her mouth opened again, and he bent an ear closer.

"… no… no… more…"

No more what, the half-demon didn't know, but all the same he replied softly. "No more. I promise."

The shivering seemed to still somewhat, but her eyes remained unfocused. Taking this time to examine his surroundings, Inuyasha discovered, with some curiosity, that the heap he was hiding behind was a pile of… rubbish. Normally, the cleaning crews that swept through the streets at night cleaned up any traces of garbage, but clearly, they had missed this one. In fact, there was evidence that this particular pile had been here for some time.

It seemed to be a collection of old pieces of technology and metal just… melded together. It was a strange structure that looked like it had been glued to the ground. Segments of it were covered with a very unagreeable mold that would definitely keep anyone from wanting to touch any part of it.

Very peculiar indeed.

Light glinting off the surface of something caught the boy's attention, so he leaned over in to study it. Golden eyes squinted- it appeared to be… a lens?

It was.

A lens of some sort was positioned among the pile in such a way that it was extremely difficult to see it. In fact, the only reason Inuyasha had caught notice of if was because of the reflective properties of the glass it was made out of. Shrugging, the hanyou disregarded the glass as just another randomly strewn piece of rubbish.

Leaning in closer to the base of the accumulation of junk, the hanyou reached out to closely inspect a piece of pipe that was sticking out near the floor. He didn't really care about getting his hands dirty- it never had bothered him about touching things that repelled 'normal' people. After all, a person was already covered in millions of bacteria- what was a few more going to do?

Suddenly, distant footsteps started to approach where Inuyasha was hiding with Kagome. In fact, they seemed to be headed straight for where they were located…

Shock filtered into the boy's shell-shocked mind, and he stared at the narrow opening that lead to the wider streets. There was nothing there, but the army of footsteps was getting closer.

Any moment now, a metal foot would cut through there followed by…

'Hell… No. No. No. No. No…'

Unconsciously, his grip on the metal stick tightened, and golden eyes flicked everywhere, looking for some means of escape. He could find nothing at all. There was nothing that would even remotely boost his chances of survival. In trying to hide in this ally, Inuyasha had backed himself up into a trap.

Then, the half-demon's gaze hardened, and he made up his mind.

He would hide Kagome, and fight the androids.

Single handily.

True, it was a foolish and fatal plan, but he really didn't have much of a choice anymore. He would die, but take down some red androids while he was at it. Hopefully, once he'd been disposed of, the fire-fighters would go back to wherever they had come from, leaving Kagome alone. Their target was him, and he'd be damned if they forgot that.

She didn't deserve to have a share in his troubles.

Inuyasha began to stand up, applying pressure to the protruding metal in his grasp. He tightened his hold on the silent girl in his arms, before starting to place her on the floor.

But then, under his applied force, the stick moved.

"What the fuck?"

Golden eyes whipped down in surprise as the rod sunk heavily, followed by a solid clank as something moved underneath the ground. The hanyou only had time to catch a brief glimpse of a metal foot enter the alleyway before the floor seemed to disappear right beneath him. Having nothing supporting him, gravity took over the boy, pulling him down into the blackness below. His arms tightened instinctively around Kagome's form, keeping her from falling away from him.

"Holy fucking shit…!"

Looking up to the sky above, Inuyasha watched as the tiny rectangle of light slowly closed until no light permeated through the darkness that enveloped the entire space. He was falling freely, and not even his sharp eyes could penetrate through the thick murkiness.

It was almost like some strange dream.

The wind whistled past his ears, and in all certainty, the half-demon thought that he was going to fall for all eternity- or until he hit the centre of the earth. Cryptically, he frowned in thought. He wouldn't even last to the core, would he? He'd be melted before then.

The hanyou looked almost sadly at the girl in his arms. If she hadn't been stirred up in his business, she wouldn't have been in the mess they were in now. Seriously, she seemed to have some problems with all the 'no more' and strange behaviour. They'd once learned in class that persons who had traumatical experiences often lapsed into emotional breakdowns in the most unexpected moments. They could be triggered by the smallest things- often something that reminded them of the occurrence.

Maybe she'd been traumatised in the past?

He studied her face- she was sleeping. All of that crying must have finally taken its toll on her energy. Her face had upturned to him in the freefall. She looked so innocent, especially in her sleep that Inuyasha found it hard to believe that she could be anything less than what she portrayed. Certainly, the girl's almost annoyingly cheerful attitude had convinced him that she could overcome anything and everything.

But as this situation had provided an example for- Kagome really was only human.

Checking his watch, the teenager startled in slight surprise. What had seemed like an eternity of falling had only been about two minutes. Then, as if sensing something coming up, the hanyou looked down.

Was that…?

-Yes! It was!

Solid ground was coming up fast towards Inuyasha, and for a split second, he thought that he would be flattened by the force of gravity. Acting on instinct, he shielded Kagome protectively with his own body, and braced his legs for the impact.

He landed.

But there was no shock, as he'd anticipated.

Oh no.

He'd bounced right back up.

Literally.

"Whoa!"

Inuyasha found himself trying to steady himself on a ground that was almost- squishy?

Once the tremors had stopped running through the cushioned landing area, the hanyou very near breathed a sigh. Dropping to his knees in a mixture of sheer relief and shock, the teenager released some of his vice-like grip on the girl in his arms, and looked around.

His relief evaporated. "Aw, shit."

What had he gotten himself into this time? The adolescent was trapped in a small squared area barely 2 metres across. He'd escaped certain death at the hands of the Government- only to end up in a place where he and Kagome would slowly die from starvation, or worse.

He inspected the walls, but there were no grooves whatsoever in the smooth metal walls that would provide a firm handle for anybody to climb out of. Sure, he could try and utilise his sharp claws to grip his way up to the top, but then what? Even if was able to slowly make his way up the chute, there was no way he'd be able to maintain his leverage while searching for a way to open the sliding trapdoor again.

Then, there was also the matter of the girl he'd brought here. For some unexplainable reason, he just didn't have the heart to leave her. Kagome had been willing to help him out of his situation, and now, there was no way he'd abandon her.

He did have a sense of compassion, you know.

…

However remote it was…

Sighing, the hanyou fell back onto his posterior.

The minutes ticked by.

…

Well, death certainly was coming slowly, and the girl was still showing no signs of waking up.

Wasn't life supposed to flash before one's eyes before they died?

If so, it was going to a very long slideshow.

Just then, a suspicious beeping sound reached dog-ears, and Inuyasha hopped to his feet in shock.

"Wha-?"

He turned his gaze to the wall to his right, and leaned closer to it. There seemed to be voices coming from the other side of the metal- but that had to be impossible! The Government had strictly taught that existence below 2 kilometres ground surface was infeasible!

The half-demon readied his claws, never once slacking his hold of the human.

If what was over there was of any threat- he'd destroy it.

That is, if he could.

In fascination and trepidation, Inuyasha watched as a small horizontal slit of light separated the panel of metal. Slowly, the light widened, temporarily blinding the hanyou as his sensitive eyesight adjusted to the sudden increase of light. However, his hearing had not been impaired, and the voices grew stronger.

"What are you opening the door for?"

"To let them in!"

"Stupid! For all we know, they could be spies sent by the Government to eliminate us!"

"They don't look harmless… See, the girl's not even moving! Hey- I wonder if she's cute…" The last part had been in a voice that obviously suggested ulterior motives.

There was a sharp smack.

Two bickering voices broke into the previously silent enclosure as the half-demon blinked to clear his vision. One was undoubtedly female, and the other was that of a man's.

"Be quiet, pervert! Close the door! Close it!"

"I can't just let them stay in there! Besides, they must know about us if they were able to locate the trapdoor in the first place. Isn't locked all the time?"

There was a momentary silence.

"Yeah, well, maybe they… I dunno…" The first voice was deliberately slow. "_got lucky?!_"

"Oh… well, there's that too…"

A third voice inturrupted in the argument, "Excuse me you two, but these two civilians are to be taken to the conference room immediately. Kaede-sama wishes to see them- it was her who ordered for the entrance to be unlocked. Although why she let in a half-breed, is beyond me…"

A pause.

"I told you so. They aren't dangerous." The male voice was victorious.

"Shut up."

Another pause.

"Don't touch me there!"

The sound of flesh connecting with flesh at full force echoed through the enclosure.

"Not there either!"

Another smack.

"But Sango dear, my hands have minds of their own!"

A third smack.

Silence.

"Uh…I don't think he's moving… He never learns, does he?"

The female sighed. "No, he doesn't."

As his vision finally stopped being filled with dancing spots, Inuyasha looked out of the hole that had now become tall enough for a person to easily walk through.

His mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"What the hell?"

Two men and a women, each looking very much normal, stood there- well actually, one of the men was just starting to get up from the ground, but they were all studying him. Sniffing the air, the hanyou discovered that two were human, but the third was a demon- wolf, if he wasn't mistaken.

That threw him for the first loop.

What were humans and demons doing together, and co-operating, no less?

Actually…

What were they doing here, underground, in the first place?

The greatly confused teenager blinked at the people.

Sensing his insecurity, one of the males- the human one, took a small step forward, sticking out his hand in greeting. A red handprint decorated a cheek, and his other hand clutched an area on his arm. His friends watched in silence. However, Inuyasha only backed away from the man, doubt etched all over his face. Kagome's sleeping form still lay in his arms.

The man, who had two earrings in each of his earlobes, quickly raised both hands up as a sign of peace. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. You were allowed down here, for what reason, I don't know." Here, he tossed a curious look back at his companions. "But you really should get out of our entry way- some more people might be coming soon, and the only way out of here is not located in there."

The hanyou took a cautious step out of the 'entrance'. Years of being taunted and bullied had given him remarkably good defensive instincts. "And where the hell, exactly, is here?" He was weary, but none of the people had shown any hostility towards him (although the wolf had lost points due to the 'half-breed' comment).

Seeing he had coaxed the hanyou out of the enclosed space, the violet-eyed man waved his arms around him. The female stepped towards the two, while the wolf stayed back, ready to spring into action if force was needed. His companions were more than able to defend themselves, but back up was always useful.

The barest of smiles flickering over her face, the woman, who looked no more than a teenager, bowed.

"Welcome to the underground, base of the rebels!"

The human male frowned thoughtfully. "Well that was… blunt."

She shrugged. "Might as well be. He's going to find out sooner or later anyway…"

Stunned by the sudden, and certainly unexpected invitation, Inuyasha collapsed onto his backside. "Wha-what?"

The demon spoke up. "Those things on your head are ears, right? Use them." His tone was daunting.

The hanyou bristled. "Shut up, wolf shit."

"Dog turd," was the reply. But even as he glared at the teenager, his gaze alighted on the girl in his hold. "Hey- she's pretty cute." Cobalt eyes narrowed in suspicion. " What were you doing with such a beautiful woman?"

Inuyasha tightened his hold, very near snarling at the wolf demon. "You keep your hands off of her, scum bag."

The other two had watched the exchange with mild interest, but it was apparent that their patience was wearing thin.

Eventually, the woman broke into the argument. "Look, Kouga. Didn't you say Kaede-baa-san wanted to see these two?"

"Huh?" Broken out of his staring contest with the inu-hanyou, the demon called 'Kouga' blinked stupidly at her.

She sighed. "Civilians? Kaede? Conference room? Ring a bell?"

The male stepped in. "Kouga, did Kaede-baa-san not ask you to bring these two to the conference room?"

"Oh!" the demon snapped his fingers. "Right!" He gestured rather rudely at the hanyou. "Come along, dog shit."

"Keh! I'm not going anywhere with you." He turned to the humans, a little unsure, but not showing it. "And what about her?" He shifted Kagome. "Can't you do something to heal her or something?"

The girl- Sango, was it? Stepped closer with a polite smile on her face. "Kaede-baa-san will know what to do, and in any case, we can't bring you anywhere around the base until you're brought in front of the leaders."

The other human eagerly held out his hands. "If you would like, I could take her off of your hands…" The expression on his face was a little… unsettling, to say the least.

He was awarded with another smack over the head.

Gritting his teeth, Inuyasha stood up angrily. "Fine. Bring me to this baba, but make it quick." The human male started towards him. "You, stay the fuck away from Kagome." He backed off, dejectedly.

The humans exchanged weary looks before walking off towards a hallway with a hanyou carrying a girl in tow. Bringing up the rear was Kouga, in a rather sullen mood.

* * *

Review Responses:

-- Sarcasm Girl8

Ah… To tell of my adventures in Italy… How about I send you (and everybody else who would want to know) an email, eh?

--buyo neko

I know, I am damn lucky, ne? And thanks for the review!

-- Katami

Heh. I agree. You think that'd be uncomfortable for him? Here's the update (finally…!)

-- luckykittykagome

Entertaining, yes? That's why I'm writing, yup! I'm baaack!

-- Shadow Stone

See where it ends up? How about everybody dies? … whoops… maybe I shouldn't have said that… But don't worry, they _shouldn't_ end up like that…

-- BabyBat0127

I did leave you people hanging, ne? But I'm back, and writing…! Sugar high? At… _1:19am?!_ No wonder!

-- boo yah

Thank you! I'll try… And every chapter _is_ important in the plot development, or in order to help me get to a major event in the story. Miroku? As I said… plot development… And thanks for _all_ of your reviews! Evil cliffy? Because I can? Will that answer suffice?

-- CJ-Chan

Wasn't he? Ah, but he sacked his pride… how noble. -.-;; And, don't we all?

.

If I missed any review responses… I'll catch up to you soon. After my mind clears up.

.

Something I just had to share with you people: a blooper.

-- She shook her eyes and shut her head.-- {Is that even possible?}

.

[You could say that the title has a sort of double meaning. One would be the literal falling into the ground, the other would be the emotional fall of Kagome…

Oh lala. Look at the drama…

Sorry if this chapter was slightly… weird. I blame it on the delirium caused by this damn fever.

Bah.

Till next time…

Ja!]


	12. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. However, if some idiot coughcough decides to sell him… I'd be more than eager… would you accept five cents?

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

--- - change in scenery, time, or perspective

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{Gritting his teeth, Inuyasha stood up angrily. "Fine. Bring me to this baba, but make it quick." The human male started towards him. "You, stay the fuck away from Kagome." He backed off, dejectedly.

The humans exchanged weary looks before walking off towards a hallway with a hanyou carrying a girl in tow. Bringing up the rear was Kouga, in a rather sullen mood.}

.

Meetings

.

Feb.28.299 NA

Underground, Sector 118 

Footsteps echoed in the seemingly endless hallways of this… place. Golden eyes roamed around the rather spacious area, taking in doors leading off to other rooms- none of which were open. He could hear the soft murmur of voices, but saw nothing. The way was dimly lit with lights that Inuyasha had never encountered before. They seemed to be generated through rod from the top of the ceiling rather than the usual built-in automatic lights used by the Government. The walls were made of a silvery metal, but the room they had just exited- the 'entrance room' had been surrounded by rock.

Just then, golden eyes detected the barest flicker of movement in the corner. Inuyasha whipped his head in that direction but saw nothing.

Sango noticed the hanyou looking off, and she spoke up in answer to his unvoiced question, "There are people situated at strategic points around for any situations." She shot him a pointed look. "It'd be foolish to try anything."

The hanyou narrowed his eyes, and this time, he was able to barely distinguish the grey that was the colour of the person's uniform. There were, indeed, armed persons, but at the moment, they weren't doing anything. He turned back and resumed walking normally.

The group walked in silence while the pair ahead occasionally exchanged glances. Inuyasha could feel the eyes of the wolf demon burn into the back of his head, and he unconsciously tightened his hold on Kagome. He didn't trust that demon. The hanyou was now carrying her almost in what people would call 'bridal-style', but his hands stayed in more impersonal places. For the most part, she remained still, but the girl would irregularly shift in her slumber, or call out in a weak voice.

He frowned at the way her face was scrunched up, as though she was having an unpleasant dream, but at the moment, he could do nothing to help her.

"We're almost there."

Inuyasha's eyes snapped to glance ahead of the humans, and saw that they were quickly approaching a fork in the hallway. There was a flat wall with a single door in it, while the corridor sharply diverted at ninety-degree angles, leading off to two separate ones. The man's hand directed to the one door ahead. Inuyasha had yet to lean his name.

A pit began to grow in the stomach of the hanyou. What would happen to him? He was hardly in the best of situations, and had no power in this place. Whatever was to happen in that room, he would have no control over. Kouga must have smelled the apprehension, for his next words were, "What, you scared, dog turd?"

That chased away any anxiety that had built up in the inu-hanyou's body as he whipped around to glare at the smirking wolf youkai. "Yeah, right. I'm not scared of anything, least of all what lies in there."

The full-blooded demon scoffed. "I'll believe it when I see it." He glanced away, mouth set in a line once more.

The girl, Sango, shook her head disapprovingly, and sighed. "Stop arguing like kids. You don't have to be worried or anything. It's not like we're going to harm you or anything." She added under her breath, "Like the Government would…"

The hanyou chose to stay silent, but the tension decreased somewhat as he was put to ease. However, he stayed cautious. If these people were to be trusted, then he would be in no trouble. They didn't seem to want to hurt him, but the problem was knowing whether to trust them or not. The entire situation was frustratingly covering shadows, and Inuyasha knew nothing about it. Everything he did understand had all been thrown at him, and he had yet to fully comprehend why there were people living below the ground.

He was completely clueless, other than the fact that this was some sort of 'rebel base', but even that had been vague.

With no warning, the girl he held suddenly stirred, giving a soft moan. "Uhhn…" Inuyasha almost started, but stopped himself before the wolf had a chance to throw yet another insult at the 'half-breed'.

Everybody was surprised by the sound, and four sets of eyes immediately glanced at the moving girl.

She shifted, facing upward. "Mmm…" Slowly, ocean blue eyes opened to look up blearily. "…G- gold?" The world swam in and out of focus, and the only thing that really stood out of the mass were two fuzzy orbs of gold. Kagome tried to squint and focus her vision, but that didn't accomplish anything. She moaned again.

"Hey, Kagome? What's wrong with you?"

Laboriously, the student closed her eyes, placing a hand on her forehead. She had a horrible headache, and her body felt sore all over. For some reason, her memory was fuzzy, and she had trouble recounting recent events. The last thing she could recall was walking hand in hand with the hanyou boy, and then it all had turned black. Anything beyond that was shrouded behind a curtain of something that prevented her from digging into her memory. She didn't want to find out what had happened- she was afraid.

For some reason, she felt as though something horrible had happened, and for the moment, she would be content to stay ignorant.

Opening her eyes once more, the girl focused on those two golden spheres, until her eyesight recovered.

The first thing she noticed was that a person was staring at her intently.

The second thing was that it was Inuyasha's face.

The third was that she was not standing, and instead, was being carried in what was not the most innocent of manners.

Groggily, the teenager's mind pieced together all the clues.

Fuzzy memory. Headache. Sore body. Being carried by a half-demon she barely knew (yet strangely trusted).

Now, at this point, Kagome could have taken the situation many ways.

She took it… badly.

The girl shrieked, "Ah! Pervert! What did you do to me?!" She scrambled out of his arms to fall onto the floor. She had yet to notice her suddenly interested audience.

Pulling his ears back in annoyance, Inuyasha scowled at her. "You don't fucking remember? I saved your damn life!" He attempted to mask his hurt feelings. Did she honestly think he would have taken advantage of her in her sleep? 'Why the hell would I want to do _that_?' He mentally snorted. 'It's not like she's any special.'

"How should I know if you're telling the truth?" Kagome stood up, brushing herself off. "I don't remember anything at all! I just know that I was holding your… hand…and you were human" She drifted off, slightly pink. "And then there's nothing!"

The hanyou studied her.

A small hand rested on the side of her forehead, and an almost frightened look was thinly veiled by that sheen of uncertainty in her eyes. But the dominant emotion was definitely… anger.

Looks like Kagome was back to normal…

She shook her head in frustration and anger. Anger at not knowing what had happened, and frustration at trying to remember, but at the same time, not wanting to do so.

She was very confused at the moment.

In the meanwhile, the three others remained unnoticed by the pair, watching the correspondence with amusement, although Kouga had deflated slightly at the 'holding hands' comment. Sango stood, blinking in confused mirth, while the man just looked… confused.

'Lover's spat?' Ran through all three of their minds.

Inuyasha looked away from the steaming girl. "You don't believe me. You don't trust me. Even when I say I didn't do anything. Dammit, wench!" His hands, relieved from their duty, were now held in fists at the hanyou's side. "You don't have anything I'd want!"

The raven-haired girl regarded the boy carefully. He really did look like he meant what he was saying, and although it was true that she hadn't known him for long, the half-demon just didn't seem to be like _that_. Not like many of the other teenage boys she knew. She frowned at the 'nothing I'd want' comment, but disregarded.

But now, she had obviously hurt his feelings, and so she apologised in the most effective way she knew…

The hanyou nearly jumped as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his torso, and as a weight rested on his chest. He whipped his eyes down to see a black-topped head just reaching past his chin. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"Apologising," was the blunt reply.

The only other person to have embraced him like this had been his mother- and that had been years ago. Even _she_ hadn't dared touch him like this.

"I'm sorry…" continued the whispered apology. "I-I guess I believe you."

Inuyasha was wordless, but slowly, hesitantly, his hands unfisted to wrap his arms awkwardly around the girl. "It's… er… I- um… Keh!" A pink blush spread across the half-demon's face as he wordlessly accepted her apology. She was the first to have actually amended for her actions while being completely truthful.

Really, the two didn't know each other that well- they'd only met a day before after all, but undoubtedly, a bound was slowly forming between them. Somehow, there was just something there that just called for a mutual understanding and trust that wasn't always found in friendships. Even now, the hanyou could feel something stirring deep within him that he could not name. It was almost warm, and a little foreign, but it was there, ever so small as it was.

Kagome, on the other hand, felt much the same way, but this feeling was not as entirely new to her. After all, she had been brought up with plenty of friends by her side, and she was extremely popular at her school. She'd had a loving family and three of the best friends she could ever have had. However, there was just something that somehow set this emotion apart from simply friendliness. For the time being though, she would just appreciate being held for once, and let herself rest in Inuyasha's warm embrace.

The couple had stayed together for a while, offering each other silent support, when a cough disrupted the silence.

Blushing madly, the two broke apart, and Kagome was suddenly aware of the other people in the vicinity, not to mention the foreign surroundings. There was a small period of silence as she studied the three strangers, and Inuyasha fidgeted behind her. They, in turn, examined her reaction, remaining silent.

"Ahh…" The schoolgirl was the first to break the quiet. "Where… are we?" She glanced at the hanyou out of the corner of her eye. "What happened to me- us? And, not to be rude or anything," she continued slowly, "but who are you? Ha-have we met before?"

Azure eyes regarded them with curiosity as they ran over each of the three. The girl looked strangely familiar, almost as if she had seen her before, as the same was with the man. However, as much as she searched her memory, Kagome couldn't come up with a name to place the faces. They seemed to be absolutely normal. The third, however, was completely unfamiliar.

Cobalt eyes that strangely enough, had no distinguishable pupil brought out the sharp contours of his face. Sable coloured hair was pulled back in a ponytail, hair held back by a hairband, although some of his bangs fell over it. However, the most unusual features were… his ears. They were- pointed, definitely not usual in humans, and- was that a tail swishing behind him?

Automatically, Kagome blurted out the first that entered her mind, "You, you're not human, are you?" Eyes suddenly wide, the teenager clamped a hand over her mouth. "I-er…"

A smirk spreading over the features of the demon, he advanced on Kagome. She started to back up slowly, not exactly trusting the strange boy in front of her. Behind her, she almost swore she could hear a low growl start up, but she was too preoccupied to investigate further. The other two humans in the area rolled their eyes, but remained silent, anticipating the show that was sure to come.

The demon walked right up to the nervous girl. For a moment, he studied the weary girl, smirking so that his canines were in plain view.

There was a pregnant pause in the noise, broken only by the growl that was steadily gaining in volume.

Then, he surprised her by grabbing her hands in his own. "Why hello, beautiful, I'm no wimpy half-breed like dog shit over there." The growl intensified. "The name's Kouga, leader of the wolf-youkai tribe," he introduced himself while insulting Inuyasha at the same time.

Laughing rather nervously, Kagome tried (without success), to remove her hands. "I'm-ah- Kagome. It's –er- nice to meet you, Kouga-san."

"Likewise. Don't be so formal. Drop the '-san'. Maybe we could replace it with 'chan', eh?" The smirk had grown, clearly showing sharp canines that were not unsimilar to the ones Inuyasha possessed. "You seem like a tough girl, how about we… get to know each other in the near future?" He seemed oblivious to the girl's obvious attempts to free herself.

The smile on Kagome's face was now quite forced, as she pulled back on her hands. "Perhaps…" However, the grip on her hands was quite strong, and she was unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, another person wasn't as vague in his answer. "Get to know this!"

Suddenly hopping back, the wolf-demon narrowly avoided a fist that would have connected with his jaw had he not moved. A clawed hand pushed Kagome back as Inuyasha stood in front of her protectively. She was rendered momentarily speechless at the sudden move, and didn't protest. The two teenagers glared at each other intensely, each ready to fight at any given second. The two canines faced off, growls being emitted by both.

Kagome smiled nervously, a little perplexed at why they were going at it like that. 'Must be a dog thing…' She cocked her head in a confused manner.

In the meantime, the other two humans were quickly getting tired of this little performance- they still had a meeting to attend after all. The girl walked around the glaring match as the man attempted to break it up. Her long, dark brown hair was tied in a ponytail, and it swayed from side to side with her gait. Strangely familiar magenta eyes took in the girl, cautious and calculating.

She approached the confused student, sticking out a hand. "Hi, my name is Sango." Unsure where to proceed from there, Sango smiled politely at the other, carefully schooling her expression so that none would be revealed in case this 'Kagome' was proved to be a spy.

It wouldn't have been the first time that the Government had tried to infiltrate their forces, but while those attempts had been unsuccessful, their own spies had been more than apt at their job.

The blue-eyed girl, on the other hand, grinned without hesitation. Immediately taking the offered hand, she answered the unspoken question. "My name's Kagome, from Student Settlement 109. I'm seventeen, turning eighteen." She had always been open with others, not liking to keep secrets except in the direst of situations. Her smile wavered a little. "Can I just ask- where am I?"

The question was not answered by Sango, but by a masculine voice. "This is the base of the rebel operation, located underground." The familiar looking man had given up in tearing the ones with demon blood apart, and joined the girls. "Telling you any more would just confuse you, but I'm sure Kaede-baa-san will clear everything up."

Kagome cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out what was so familiar about this man. He had violet eyes, and black hair that was pulled back into a short dragon's tail at the base of his neck. Small gold hoops glinted in the dimly lit hallway was they swayed from his ears. She knew she'd heard that description somewhere… but where?

A little discouraged from the lack of response from the girl, the man held out his hand just as Sango had done. "My name's Miroku, nice to meet … you…?" He drifted off at the sudden light of understanding that had appeared in the girl's eyes. She clapped her hands together, and was now affixing him with a rather pointed stare.

Squinting, Kagome cocked her head to the other side. If she was right in her thinking… The girl racked her brain for what her friends had read just the previous day…

Sucking in a breath, the girl questioned Miroku, "You wouldn't happen to be 21 years of age, would you?"

He drew back in surprise. "Yes… how did you know?"

"And you wouldn't happen to be a technician?" She ignored his question.

At this, the man frowned thoughtfully. "Have we met before? Perhaps, up there?" He jabbed hit thumb upwards. "Above ground? I thought you looked familiar…"

Kagome shook her head. "No, we haven't met, at least, not yet. We're going to, though… I think…"

"What?" Miroku was officially confused, though not as puzzled as the magenta-eyed girl beside him was. "Come again?"

The raven-haired student sighed, shaking her head. She took the still extended hand, giving it a quick shake. "I knew I'd seen you from somewhere. It's nice to meet you, Miroku-san. I'm Kagome, PN 10031." She drew in a quick breath, and let the pin fall. "I'm your assigned counterpart."

This statement was met by compete and utter silence draped heavily in shock. The growling that had previously filled the room had cut off, and the two demonic boys turned around to stare at Kagome with wide eyes. Sango was blinking slowly, as if to clear her confused thoughts.

Miroku, however, didn't seem nearly as stunned as the others as he studied Kagome with a renewed interest. "Hn. Yes, yes, uh huh. So you're that girl I'm supposed to live with for the rest of my days?" He tilted his head, as if regarding her at another angle. "Yes… I could live with you…" Coming to a conclusion, he spontaneously swept up Kagome's hands in his. She squeaked in surprise. "Would you do me the honour of bearing my child?"

Everybody shifted their gazes to the violet-eyed man. A shocked silence hung in the air.

Nervously, Kagome whipped her hands from his. "Le-let's not jump to conclusions! Technically, we haven't even met yet, and you're asking me to…" Another forced smile decorated her mouth. 'What's with these men?'

"What?! You're actually going through with this? You're accepting it?" Sango looked supremely hurt, directing her gaze to Miroku, before her expression shifted to become unreadable. "I knew it." Her voice had turned flat. She turned away to walk towards the door of the conference room, body tense.

"Sango…" Miroku wore an expression of slight puzzlement.

Kouga, however, was more vocal in his disapproval, marching towards the couple. "Hell no, she's not going to stay with you! She's _my_ woman!"  
  
At this comment, Inuyasha, who had previously looked as though somebody had dumped freezing water down his back, suddenly appeared beside the ookami-youkai.

"What do you mean she's your woman?!"

Kouga raised his chin. "She's pretty, she's smart, and I'll bet she's brave too! She's the perfect woman for me!" A nasty sneer stole across his face. "Besides, you have no room to argue- she's not yours. Why do you care, anyway?"

"I- er… Keh!" Inuyasha folded his arms obstinately. She doesn't want to be _yours_, Who'd want to mate with a dirty wolf like you?" Suddenly, he whipped his head to the azure-eyed girl. "You… don't, right?" His voice was unsure, and slightly pleading.

Blinking, Kagome slowly shook her head. "Um… no?" She had yet to recover from it all.

Inuyasha turned around, grinning. "See?"

Kouga bristled. "Well-"

He was cut off by an abrupt shout from a short distance away. "Will you guys _stop_ it with the whose woman is whose?" Sango stood there, looking rather intimidating. "We were called to the conference room over half an hour ago! Now lets go!"

The three men 'eeped' like the big, strong males they were, and stood up straight. The magenta-eyed woman nodded darkly, leading them towards the door in single file.

Inuyasha whispered discreetly to the others. "What's _her_ problem?"

"I don't know. In all the years I've known her, she rarely blows up like _that_." Suprisingly, it was Kouga who answered him.

Miroku, however, remained silent, a thoughtful expression on his face. Kagome was quiet as well, looking at Sango with a light of understanding in her eyes. 'Sango-san likes Miroku-san…' A singsong voice echoed in her mind. The schoolgirl jogged up to the other, smiling kindly.

"So…" She attempted to start a conversation. "Is something wrong?"

Sango didn't spare the girl even a glance. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine."

Kagome obviously didn't believe her, and so tried a different approach. "Isn't it strange how Miroku-san asked me to bear his children? It would seem obvious that the Government intended for that, so perhaps he was simply…" She struggled for a plausible excuse, "asking my… permission first?"

The other girl remained silent.

"I mean, it's not like he was serious, or anything. I mean, just his tone of voice made it seem like he wasn't sincere- don't you think?"

Finally, the magenta-eyed girl turned to face the other. There was a short silence before she responded to Kagome's attempts. "It's just not the first time he's used that proposition. You can ask every other female you find in the underground, not just the humans, but the demons as well. Everything that seems remotely female, he requests of the them to bear his child."

The other blinked. "Then obviously, he wasn't serious, right?"

"No," Sango's voice was softer than before. "No, he wasn't."

There was another lull in the conversation, before Kagome thought of something. "If Miroku-san does ask everybody, he must have asked you!"

The rebel's eyes were suddenly downcast. "He did ask once, when we first met, and assigned to be partners here." She looked up. "But as always, he wasn't serious." She added in a whisper, "He never is."

Kagome looked understandingly at the other. There was obviously something deeper between the two that she knew nothing about, and she had no right to pry in the love life of a complete stranger. But even as a stranger, she'd always had an open air of honesty that compelled people to reveal more than they meant to. In some cases, it had been as gift- in others, not as rewarding.

"Perhaps, if Kaede-baa-san agrees, I'll show you around the Underground?" Sango surprised the other girl with her offer.

Kagome smiled. "Sure! It'll be fun!"

The magenta-eyed girl returned it. She'd never had too many female friends, preferring the hard, physical work to others such as documenting and cleaning. Often, before she'd been introduced into the Rebellion, the other girls had teased her about not being feminine enough. That didn't happen here, but she still wasn't as accepted as the other females were. There seemed to be something wrong with _wanting_ to fight to the others.

However, here was a girl, not quick to judge, and who had a nice personality. It would be nice to be able to just talk with somebody once in a while.

In the back, three pairs of eyes stared intently at the quiet pair in front of them.

The boys strained to hear, but even with Kouga and Inuyasha's enhanced hearing, they couldn't tell what the girls had been whispering about. Whatever it was, by the time they had reached the females, they had already reached the door of the conference room, and had stopped their conversation. Sango looked particularly calmer, even a little more light hearted than usual.

"Let's go in, ne?" Her voice was not exactly cheerful, but it had lost its edge from before. Instead, it had turned serious, immediately depleting the calm atmosphere from before, and replacing it with one of more professionalism.

The males straightened, and Miroku walked up to stand next to his partner. Kouga threw a glance at Inuyasha before slowly edging towards Kagome. He froze at the threatening growl of a warning, and dejectedly backed off in the opposite direction. A confrontation right now would not bode well with the Elders. Instead, the wolf demon opted to throw a nasty glare at the hanyou, moving to stand beside Sango and Miroku, although a little further away from the couple.

Taking one last calculatory glance at the rest of the group, Sango opened the door, leading the way for everybody else to follow. Inside, the room was lowly lit and quiet- very quiet.

A little apprehensive, Kagome slowly made her way to the hanyou's side, since he was really the only one out of the four whom she trusted the most. Inuyasha glanced at her, but made no comment, golden-eyes raising back to the doorway.

And silently, all five of the people, humans, demon, and hanyou, entered the conference room.

* * *

**Many Thanks to:**

Tessa-Chan  
Shadow Stone  
luckykittykagome  
darkscorpio28  
Kim  
inuphoria  
buyo neko  
Katami  
Ryngrl5

.

Eh? Where'd my review responses go off to?

* * *

[Sorry bout the delay and the lack of responses. I'll try to up my writing speed and manage my time more wisely (-.-;;) This chapter _would_ have been up sooner if I could have logged on to ff.net, but since it wouldn't _work_...

Anyway,

Till next time…

Ja!]


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: If only I did… but a girl can still dream, can't she? sigh

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

--- - change in scenery, time, or perspective

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{A little frightened, Kagome slowly made her way to the hanyou's side, since he was really the only one out of the four whom she trusted the most. Inuyasha glanced at her, but made no comment, golden-eyes raising back to the doorway.

And silently, all five of the people, humans, demon, and hanyou, entered the conference room.}

.

Underground City

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Feb.28.299 NA

Underground, Sector 118 

The dimly lit room was a huge contrast from the brightly reflecting walls of the hallway, and it took a short moment for the five's eyes to adjust to the lighting, though it took a bit longer for the humans compared to the demons. Not soon, Kagome was able to look around, and saw that the group had entered a rather spacious circular room.

At her sides were hundreds- perhaps even thousands of seats all positioned to face the 'front' of the room, where there was clearly an uplifted platform. Several dark objects were situated on it, but what they were, not even Inuyasha's eyes could tell. This appeared to be not only a conference room, but some showing area as well. All around the walls of the room were metal doors, presumably leading to other parts of the 'base'.

Inuyasha could barely detect the faint scents of many people, human and youkai alike, but there was plainly nobody here. It was assumed that there had just been a meeting a few hours before, but the place was decidedly empty for the time being. However, nearing the back of the room, where the group was headed, a couple of scents grew steadily stronger, signalling that they were not alone.

Sango and Miroku continued to lead, and Kouga had moved so that he walked behind the two newcomers. From what he could see out of the corners of his eyes, Inuyasha could tell that there was little expression on any of their faces- something that could be a good sign or a bad one. Instead of talking and looking around, the rebels' silent gazes were fixed onto the upcoming rise.

Kagome lifted her head, and glanced at the ceiling. She was surprised to see not a flat top as she had expected, but a domed one instead. She jabbed the boy beside her in the side with an elbow and pointed upwards. The hanyou, giving a near silent yelp, irritably glared at the girl before looking up to see what she was so interested in.

He chose to ignore the barely concealed sniggers behind him.

His forehead furrowed at the architectural design that the builders of this place had chosen. Not only was the ceiling evenly curved, but there were designs on it as well. Small yet intricate carvings lined the top, yet Inuyasha couldn't determine what it was made of. It couldn't be metal, since it was almost a pure white colour, and it certainly didn't seem to be metal. In fact, this type of building roofing was unlike anything that either of the students had ever seen.

"I see you are interested in the design of our Conference Room?"

A voice pierced into the silence of the area, jolting both Inuyasha and Kagome out of their thoughts. Both dropped their heads simultaneously to look directly ahead. It appeared that during their preoccupation, the group had finally reached the front of the platform, where they could only just make out the objects on it.

There was a moderately long, ovular table with several chairs positioned around it. It seemed that the table would have been able to seat up to twenty or even more people, but at the moment, only two were present.

From the dim lighting of the room, even Inuyasha's eyes could only make out the outline of the two people- there was a taller, lanky figure, and next to it, was a shorter, plumper one. What he could see of their faces showed that neither was smiling. But then again, he really couldn't make out their facial features since the platform was extremely poorly lit. Sniffing the air discretely, he could tell that these two were indeed older than any humans he had ever seen.

Apparently, when people became too sick or old so that they couldn't serve the Government's purposes, they were shipped off to some distant land where there was supposedly a care unit for the elderly. Of course, that information had been conveyed to them by the Government, and Inuyasha was less than keen to trust it. Who knew what really happened to the elderly?

'Probably killed off.'

A silence stretched around the room and tension began to build. Inuyasha found himself going rigid- it was as if he was being put on the spot; as if he were being judged. He could feel, even if he couldn't see, the eyes of at least one of the so-called 'Elders' studying him.

Kagome tentatively glanced around to see that Sango and Miroku had separated to stand on either side of herself and Inuyasha. Kouga remained behind them. The form of the hanyou at her right side seemed extremely tense. Golden eyes reflected what little light there was, giving him a strangely eerie appearance- almost a cat-like one.

Raising her gaze, the schoolgirl's noticed something odd. There were two shining balls just above her… She focused onto two shining orbs in front of her. Suddenly, something incredibly unnatural happened. Kagome had a most curious feeling. She felt as though her mind were open; that her emotions were plainly on display for all to see. It was almost like her soul itself was being read, much like a book. Desperately, she tried to hold on to her deepest secrets, terrified at what was going on. Her vision was filled with white- then black.

She felt as though she no longer had a physical body, and that she was just an… entity floating in an unknown space. An out of body experience?

'Who are you?' A voice echoed throughout her mind. The feeling was hard to describe- Kagome hadn't _heard_ the voice rather than she… sensed it. No. Sensed was not the right word for it. It was like… a _thought_ had been thrown into her mind- almost like mind reading, only on the completely opposite scale. Perhaps it was called telepathy?

But no- telepathy didn't exist, did it?

It had to be impossible, but then what was this?

Slightly apprehensive at the odd feeling, Kagome had no other choice than to answer truthfully- she had a feeling that any lie would have been detected instantly anyway. 'My name is… Kagome.' She didn't open her mouth, but only thought it. She didn't state her Personal Number, nor did she 'think' her Student Settlement location. For some reason, the girl felt as though her name would be enough- and it was.

'Do you come from the enemy?'

She didn't need to be told who 'the enemy' was and answered without hesitation. 'No.'

The voice in her mind fell silent, and for a moment, Kagome thought she was in the clear. But then…

'Let me see…'

Visions she thought she'd forgotten flashed in her mind's eye.

Scenes of what she recognised as her childhood followed one after another as the teenager's life literally flashed before her very eyes. She was momentarily shocked when the Fire was shown, but then, in an instant, her life story had been told- the last scene showing Kagome as she stood at that very moment.

However, once her life had been displayed, another series of displays started. There were bright colours, many people, tall buildings, rejoicing; everything that she saw, Kagome remembered from her elusive dreams. For a second, the schoolgirl felt joy at realising she had really dreamt them, but then everything reverted upside down.

Not literally.

Suddenly, she could see only black, and hear the silent screams of thousands of people. She could hear the cries of mothers for their children; of children for their parents. She heard evidence of blasts and sickening smacks of what could only be heavy objects falling to the ground. Kagome could only hear the noises of a massacre of thousands of people.

'Interesting…'

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

Breathing heavily, the girl opened her ocean blue eyes. She wetted dry lips and passed a hand over her rapidly beating heart. Turning to the sides, she found that Sango was still looking directly forwards and that nobody was paying the slightest bit of attention to the teenager. Apparently, while Kagome had been trapped in her mind, no or very little time had passed in the physical world. The steady tick of her wristwatch, though a quiet sound, was like an alarm in her pounding ears.

'Wha-what happened?' coursed through her mind, but if she'd expected a response, the teenager was disappointed.

Turning her gaze forwards, she found that the eyes were no longer focused on her, but on the boy beside her. However, once she had switched her stare to him, his ordeal had already finished.

Unlike herself, Kagome found that Inuyasha wasn't showing many physical signs of having been affected in the least by what had happened. However, while he wasn't acting as she did, his expression was certainly enough to tell her that at least something had occurred, and that she wasn't the only one who felt…

Invaded.

His fists were clenched and his body was tense. His lips were drawn down in a most displeased frown and his eyebrows were drawn together. It was an almost bitter expression.

But what he was bitter about, Kagome didn't speculate.

She drew her attention back to the figures- the Elders ahead, and chose to break the overwhelming stillness.

Her right hand unconsciously rose to rest gently on the arm of her companion, giving him silent support and at the same time, drawing strength from him. "The place is very unique. I feel almost as if we're in another world." Her soft voice immediately calmed the atmosphere, and everybody relaxed, if only a little. The unanswered question was answered and thus the circle was joined.

Inuyasha turned his gaze to the girl at his side. Had she felt the same as he had- like somebody was intruding the sanctuary that was their minds? Had she too been plagued by what had happened in the past? Briefly, the hanyou wondered what could have happened, but he was soon brought out of his reverie.

Suddenly, slow yet kind laughter broke through the previously quiet room. Blue-grey and amber eyes stared forwards in disbelief; or else they would have caught the relieved faces of the two rebels at their sides.

The same voice that had spoken before came up again, "Very good. You have passed our test." There was a pause. "Now, if we could just get some light in here?"

There was a loud click, and abruptly, the room was flooded in a sudden burst of light. For the second time that day, Inuyasha found himself covering his sensitive eyes and trying to recover from the amount of light. Beside him, the schoolgirl was blinking rather owlishly as she rubbed her eyes.

"So bright…"

The humans beside them and demon behind didn't seem to be terribly affected, as they had anticipated the change in lighting. Now, all three bent in respectable bows.

"Good day, Kaede-san."

Kagome lifted her head to take a better look at what was before her. For a while, all she could see were a bunch of flashing spots, but it soon cleared. Her sight was greeted with the last thing that she would have expected. For someone who she thought had broken into her mind, this old woman didn't look like anybody dangerous, nor did the withered man at her side.

She was certainly old, wearing an eye-patch over one eye while the other shone with a wisdom that came only from many years of living. That was one of the eyes, Kagome realised with a jolt, that had caused the entire experience. Her grey hair was pulled back away from her face to end in a tied ribbon down her back. However, unlike the other humans that Kagome had ever seen, this person was wearing red clothes.

Not grey, but a vibrant shade of crimson- the same as the man beside her.

But wait.

That man- he looked odd.

He had large, almost bulging eyes that seemed to give him a perpetually surprised expression. His hair was tied up in a small tail, and that only accented his increasing baldness. However, the feature that most set him apart from most of the people Kagome knew, were the pointed ears.

'This guy's a demon.'

But the schoolgirl wasn't afraid. For one, Kagome didn't believe that this old youkai would really hurt her while in the presence of that kind looking woman (nor would Inuyasha allow for it). In fact, she seemed like the grandmotherly type with a kind visage- but wait. If one of 'Kaede's' eyes was covered by an eye-patch, then how could Kagome have seen both of her eyes? How could she have made eye contact with both of the old woman's eyes, when only one was exposed?

'Weird.' 

Her mind was swirling with many different thoughts and questions. So many in fact, that she had no idea where to begin to question these people- or how to ask them.

"Where the hell are we, and what are we doing here?" It seemed as if Inuyasha wasn't as averse to being brash with the respected Elders here.

"Inuyasha!"

He turned his surprised gaze to the disapproving one beside him. "What?" His expression darkened when he heard the barely repressed snort behind him.

Kagome shook her head and turned to look forwards, a polite smile dancing upon her lips. "What my friend means to say is that we would really like to know why we're here, and- well, where we are." Her voice was definitely mannerly- the one that she only used with strangers and those who demanded respect. 'And explaining what just happened would be nice.' She added mentally.

The old lady leaned back into her chair as she studied the two. "To answer your question and indeed, explain what you wish to know, would take an extremely long time." She turned to the hanyou. "Inuyasha."

"What?"

"You will no longer be able to return to the upper world."

She had spoken with such an assured tone that the boy bristled at what he thought sounded like a command. "And why the hell not?" He ignored the sigh emitted by the girl next to him.

Kaede arched an eyebrow. "Surely, you cannot think you could return to where the Government reigns when it is after your head?"

Flushing a little, the half-demon looked away. "Keh."

"What about me?" Both Elders drew their gazes away from Inuyasha and onto Kagome. Flustered by the sudden attention, the teenager sought to elaborate. "I mean, if he's not allowed up, then where am I supposed to go?"

"Don't worry." This time, it wasn't the old woman who answered, but the demon. "The Government knows nothing about your role in assisting Inuyasha, isn't that right, Kouga?" The wolf demon nodded. "You're able to go back, but the half-demon will have to stay here."

Inuyasha broke in, "And where exactly is 'here'?"

"'Here' is underground, a few miles below the upper city," answered the woman who was addressed as Kaede, "'Here' is where we have built our basis of operations against the invaders. 'Here' is where we have preserved the history of the population of this planet for centuries."

Kagome shook her reeling head, "But how…?"

"Before the beginning of the Neo Age, a group of survivors were able to hide among the few monuments that hadn't been destroyed, and when the new city was built, those survivors stayed underground, building a resistance to the Government."

"Why weren't they discovered?"

The old man replied, "The Superiors, as they name themselves, haven't found a need to journey under the city they built. They believe that they have every creature on earth recorded in their database. They did try to send their androids to investigate, but thanks to our defences, they were unsuccessful." He paused. "Of course, now that's you've disappeared from up there, they'll be more alert, so we'll have to be careful."

Inuyasha was rapidly becoming bored, "So the Government's stupid. That's no surprise. The question is _what_ is it you want with us? And how can there be a city underground?"

"Take a look around you, boy. Does this look like the architectural design of the Superiors?"

Automatically, both heads rose and took in the newly brightened room. Inuyasha opened his mouth.

"It's much more beautiful," butted in Kagome before the hanyou could respond with what was likely to be a rude retort, "and more detailed."

"Precisely," responded Kaede, "The ground you stand on, is the original foundation of Tokyo from almost centuries ago."

A silence followed her words.

"So you mean," Kagome began slowly, "the Superiors just built a new city… over the old one?"

"Keh. They were too damn lazy to clean up the mess so they just covered it up." Inuyasha scoffed, "That sounds just like what they would do."

"But don't you wonder how the mess came to be?" Kaede stood up, but when the other elder prepared to rise, she shook her head. "No, Toutousai. You have to wait here for Myouga. I trust he should have some more information about his situation," she gestured towards Inuyasha, "when he comes back." The old woman slowly walked around the table to approach the group. "Kagome. Inuyasha. Come with me." She began to walk towards a door that was located just behind the stage.

The two began to advance to where she was going, Kagome shooting a meaningful look at Sango and Miroku.

Sango hesitated, "Ano… Kaede-san?"

She turned around. "Hmm?"

"Should we follow as well?"

"You may do as you wish." Kaede continued on her way.

The girl shrugged and strolled over to stand behind the newcomers, closely followed by Miroku. Kouga, not willing to leave the beautiful girl in the presence of the half-breed alone, began to tail them, but then-

"Kouga." Toutousai's old voice rang out. "Stay. I may need your assistance when Myouga comes back."

The wolf demon froze and glared at the others, sulking.

He yelled after the retreating group. "You touch her, hanyou, and I'll maim you!"

A distant shout reached his sensitive ears, "Keh! Like you could!"

* * *

They had been walking for some time now. Kagome had long since stopped trying to figure out their route- the multitude of hallways and rooms had provided a difficult terrain to navigate. She felt so tired- not surprising since it was ages since her last good sleep. She suppressed a yawn.

'I am never listening to Yuka's advice again.'

Inuyasha, on her right side however, seemed alert, his ears standing on his head and his nose twitching every so slightly. His eyes were darting to and fro in curiosity. In fact, he looked much like an inquisitive puppy.

Kagome stifled a giggle, but he heard the muffled noise. "What's wrong with you?"

She straightened her face and put on an innocent expression. "Nothing."

"Right." He didn't quite believe her, but he had another question for the girl. "Where'dya think we're going?"

His questioned was answered by a voice ahead. "We are going to the centre of the underground. I have something to show you." But her information stopped there.

Kagome looked behind her. "Eh, Sango-san, Miroku-san, Do you have any ideas?"

However, the two rebels seemed just as confused as they were. "I've never really been around this place," admitted Miroku, "I have a job above ground, and most of my time is spent up there."

"I do live here… but my time is taken up with training," shrugged his companion. 

They continued walking, but Kagome began to notice that the floor wasn't as smooth as it had been. In fact, the neatly tiled floors had stopped a few feet back, and now they were walking on uneven ground. The walls around them were still smooth, however, and a few faint lights hung from the ceiling.

Kaede broke the silence, "We are quickly approaching the centre of the underground. Around it, all the old buildings and skyscrapers that remained of Tokyo had been connected in such a way by the survivors that the entire area of the old city was under a single roof. However, the centre was left alone."

A dark opening was visible at the end of the hallway. Kagome squinted in an effort to make out what was ahead, but she couldn't see anything. "What's over there?" But not even Inuyasha's enhanced sight could penetrate through the darkness. The schoolgirl's curiosity was growing and so was that of the people around her.

Kaede reached the end of the hallway first. She reached over to the wall and flipped a row of switches. "There are a few lights positioned around the centre, but it will take a while for them to activate."

Pair by pair, the young ones walked out of the hallway to be greeted with… darkness. Of course, they could sense that they had just left the small hallway and was now standing in an extremely cavernous area.

"What are we supposed to be seeing?" questioned Inuyasha. He squinted into the darkness but couldn't make out a thing. "What's in this place anyway?"

"Patience, boy. Wait for the lights to go on."

A few seconds passed and then suddenly, without any warning at all, there were several popping noises and the area was flooded in light. All four of the younger people flinched badly and shut their eyes. Only Kaede had been sensible enough to close her one uncovered eye.

"Gah… my eyes!" Inuyasha rubbed them irritably. "That's the third fucking time today!"

"Language," chided the Elder.

"Screw you."

"Inuyasha! Apologise."

"Keh."

Kagome slowly opened her eyes just so that she could see what Kaede had wanted to show them. She gasped. One by one, each of them cautiously squinted into the bright light to be stunned into silence.

"Holy crap."

There they were.

What remained of the old city.

Ruins.

Heaps of rubbish lay around the large, circular area. The low, crumbling walls that remained of what had probably once been tall skyscrapers lay around the edge of an open region. Piles of concrete and metal lay desolately on the ground. The ground itself had once been smooth but was now chipped and lay in horrible disrepair. Five larger piles of debris around the edge of the area, evenly spaced apart on the circle. Also, at various spots in the ground and garbage were small, neat holes.

Here and there were splotches of a reddish stain that seemed unpleasantly like blood.

And dead in the centre was one, huge tower.

It was a tall monument that rose all the way to the foundation of New Tokyo. As her gaze travelled upwards, Kagome saw that it gradually became more and more narrow until she caught sight of a large ball. It had once probably been a vibrant reddish colour, but was now covered in centuries of dust. The base of it was chipped and various chunks had been taken out of it.

The girl's eyes widened. 'I've seen this before…'

Kaede began talking, "The story that will answer all of your questions begins here, in this place, almost three centuries ago…"

However, Kagome wasn't listening. Indeed, she couldn't even hear the old woman properly as the scene before her eyes shifted and wavered. Her blue eyes were wide open and she felt almost paralysed. Unbeknownst to her, a circular object was beginning to glow green on her chest while she herself gleamed briefly pink.

"Kagome, you all right?" Inuyasha's voice sounded muffled, as if he were speaking from behind a glass. "Kagome?"

Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Kaede slowly disappeared from around her and the girl was oblivious to the hanyou's hold on her shoulder and his shouts.

The area around her slowly changed. Heaps of debris disappeared and the buildings slowly became intact. Tall skyscrapers and apartment complexes rose around the open area. The bright artificial light faded away while tall streetlights materialised around the open area. Where the five larger piles of rubbish had once stood where now tall stages with instruments Kagome had only seen in a few picture books.

The most prominent change, however, was the tower, which now looked as though new, and the large red ball shone brightly. In it, was a small strip showing what must be the time: 11:48:30

The area rebuilt itself, until it was perfectly intact, and Kagome was standing at the edge of it.

"This is… the old Tokyo… What's going on?" Her own voice sounded strange- it came to her ears as an echo.

But the last to be resurrected, and what provided the strongest shock of all, was the people.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people materialised before her very eyes. The stood close together in brightly coloured clothing, the most popular shade being a bright red. Many donned blue ribbons, but why, Kagome had no idea. There were humans and demons alike, all laughing and talking and staring at the various stages. On the platforms themselves were now individuals who had picked up each of the instruments and were now playing them. This was clearly a monumental occasion.

The schoolgirl felt very out of place with her plain grey clothing. All around Kagome, people crowded in on her as they stood, waiting for…

…something.

"Holy cow…" She attempted to move, but something was keeping her from picking up her feet. She glanced around her, but nobody had picked up on her comment or her tries to move. "Help?" Nobody answered. Curious, Kagome yelled into the hubbub, "Hello?!"

Nothing.

It seemed as though none of the people surrounding her were even aware that she was nearby. They all continued to smile and chatter contentedly.

Oddly enough, however crowded the place was, each time the girl felt she was going to bump into one person or another, they simply seemed to slide away so that she was no longer in their way. It was like there was an invisible barrier around her, preventing her from having any effect on the place.

Experimentally, she slowly brought up a hand and waved it in front of the nearest woman's face energetically. There was no response- the woman didn't so much as blink. Kagome slowly turned and shouted into the ear of a bear demon.

"HELLO!"

No response, whatsoever.

Kagome settled back down and turned towards the tower, a fear rapidly growing in her heart. It was all calm and happy now, but if her guess was right, it wouldn't stay that way for long.

And all she could do was watch.

Watch what she had seen dozens of times before, in her dreams. Of course, then, she had always been watching it from above as though she were a spectator in a set of invisible stands around the place.

But this time, she'd be right in the midst of the chaos.

"Up close and personal," murmured the girl.

Glancing around her, Kagome saw a strange metal device a man near by was holding. It was flat and seemed like it could fold in half. On one of the metal flaps were buttons with numbers and letters on them while on the upper flap was a glowing screen.

"What is that?" wondered Kagome aloud, but then the lettering caught her attention and her mouth dropped open.

On it, were the date, time, and an announcement in black:

'December 31, 2039 

11:53pm

Happy New Years Eve!'

She took a step back in alarm.

"Oh. My. God."

* * *

Review responses:

-- KAWAII Little Wolf  
I'm a genius? Ahh… … Nah. I'm just a regular ol' girl. And steal my ideas? O.o Now, _why_ would you want to do that? ;-)

-- Shadow Stone  
And I can't wait to write the next one…! =D

-- SniperGirl  
::blush:: Eheh… but I've still got lots to improve! And all the gang is here… except for little Shippou… wonder where he ran off to…

-- Amped-Chaos  
The kick-ass Kagome? How kick-ass? And don't worry- more of her 'powers' will be revealed… soon…

-- luckykittykagome  
Heh. Mind link? Perhaps… Maybe a little like what happened in this chapter, no? ::shivers:: That's scary. Now log in's fine and I updated again! (yay?) Miroku and Kagome are assigned, and that was almost unintentional, but the actual relationship between the two isn't going to be blown up much…

-- Danny  
Yay! I have a plot! -.-;; Heh. No, I haven't read '1984', and I've forgotten what it's about, but I have read 'Animal Farm' by the same author and that's one of the major influences of the story… as is 'The Giver'. Read 'em?

-- Kim  
Yes, all in due time… XD

-- Inuyashadabest  
I will, I will.

-- sarahlovesDBZ  
Sci-fi stories are okay, but I generally don't read 'em (surprising?). There aren't a lot of them around, are there? But if you like them, have you read 'Transcending a Dynasty'? I forgot who the author is, but it's right here on !

--darkscorpio28  
Heh. I'm glad you do!

--Katami  
Original? Sort of. There are, of course, influences, but yes, I guess it is pretty original. (Shortest sentence with the most commas)

-- Ryngrl5  
You love it? That's great! Keep on lovin' it!

* * *

[Sort of a short chapter, but not really, no? Some more will be revealed in chapter 13 (obviously), and I kind of left it off at a cliffie. Of course, you've probably realised what Kagome's seeing, so it won't be much of a surprise, no?

Heh (I like saying that)

I have a thing for out-of-body experiences. That must be the, what? Third time I've used that in a story. -.-;;

Till next time…

Ja!]


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Do I _really_ need to do this?

"…" – speech

'…' – thoughts

--- - change in scenery, time, or perspective

.

Previously, on Lock Down:

{'December 31, 2039 

11:53pm

Happy New Years Eve!'

She took a step back in alarm.

"Oh. My. God."}

.

Explanations

.

Feb.28.299 NA

Underground, Sector 118

**Vision**__

Dec.31.2039 – New Years Anniversary Eve

Tokyo, Japan

.

Kagome stared at the device in shock as a chill entered her heart. 

This… this wasn't possible!

Somehow, she had travelled into a time that was centuries before the Neo Age. She'd done it hundreds of times in her dreams, but never before had she discovered the actual date. In fact, up until this moment, she had always assumed that her visions were either of another world, or the future, or were simple fantasies. However, provided with this evidence and the ruins Kaede had shown her, this was plainly in the past.

The girl just stood there, dumbfounded for several minutes before she realised that the music that had previously filled the place had stopped and the peoples' attention was now directed at the tall tower in the square. The numbers now read: 11:59:04. The noise level had dropped and an excited atmosphere hovered about everybody. Kagome, not knowing what was going on, but dreading what was going to happen, decided to follow their leads and also stared at the ball-like clock.

Soon, the seconds were winding down towards the fifties, and some people began to count down. However, the majority waited until the last ten seconds before twelve o'clock before actually joining in. The raven-haired girl stared silently and grimly, not sharing in the excitement.

"Five… four… three… two… one…"

Nothing happened. The clock simply hit 12:00:00 and continued ticking down the time.

There were a few seconds of absolute silence before perplexed murmurs broke out among the crowd. Kagome shot a nervous look towards the sky where she knew something would be coming. A bulky man who was dressed in a very meticulous fashion had stepped up to one of the speakers and was now speaking, but Kagome knew he would be cut off.

"Well, there seems to be a-"

The lights went out. The city of Tokyo was drowned in black. Panicking, many of the people started to push and shove and had Kagome been solid, she would most certainly have been shoved to the ground. Instead, they simply slipped right by her, untouching. Kagome spotted the man who was carrying the strange device she had read the date off of. He was holding it to his ear and shouting into it, but not soon, he angrily threw it to the floor. It shattered into many pieces of metal and plastic.

The girl raised her eyes, once again, to the heavens, expecting the shout that would soon come- after all, there was no moon.

"Look at the sky! Where's the moon?"

'There's no moon because something's blocking it,' thought the girl, 'and the thing that's blocking it is going to come soon…

She was not disappointed.

"The sky-! There's something there!"

And indeed, there was. The girl's eyes had picked it up much sooner than anybody else as she had expected it. It was a curious sort of bluish light, but while some of the people sighed in relief beside her, Kagome only held her breath. She could feel her heart beating erratically in anticipation for what was to come.

'Not long now…'

Shrieks of shock filled the air as the thing turned out to be much bigger than expected and soon, it had reached the city sky limits. A fierce wing blew through the air as the great black spaceship crashed into the ground, but the girl from the future felt none of it. She could merely stand there and watch as the people cleared away from it before gathering around what they assumed to be meteorite.

"Get away!" shouted the blue-eyed hair in panic, but nobody listened- indeed, nobody could hear her shouts. "Don't touch it! Run away!"

The rectangular pathway dropped to the ground, and as it had happened in her dreams, a stocky boy with a long tail and pointed ears stepped on the pathway. He grinned and raised his arms.

"No!" Kagome shouted in horror, but it was too late, even if it could have been heard, for the demon had already collapsed onto the ground, dead, with a neat hold burned into him.

The heavy footsteps echoed from within the craft, and though Kagome urgently willed the people to run, curiousity held everybody in place. However, as soon as they saw what it was that was stepping onto their planet, all cautiouness evaporated as laughter ran around the crowd.

"Don't laugh…" whispered the girl. "You'll be killed. RUN!"

Again, it was too late and several people dropped dead with holes smoking above their hearts and foreheads. One by one, the Superiors stepped out of their spacecraft and with absolutely no expression visible on their faces, wordlessly began the purge of the peoples of earth.

It was now that a stampede had broken out among the crowd, and everybody ran as quickly as they could away from the supernatural life forms. However, it was proved to be futile as the weapons of the Superiors could extend to a very long range, and still more people died.

Kagome could only stand there, frozen to one place, her heart beating steadily faster as she began to hyperventilate.

'Wh-what's going on?' she looked down and discovered that she herself was glowing pink and something was emitting a green light on her chest. With shaking hands, she reached into the neck of her shirt and pulled out the medallion. 'What?' However, she was suddenly distracted by heavy footsteps slowly approaching her.

She looked up, her eyes widening in horror. "No…" There was one of the Superiors headed towards her, but unlike everybody else, he was staring directly into her eyes. One arm slowly raised and he pointed almost lazily at the petrified girl. "It can't be…"

The cold black eyes seemed to sparkle in sadistic amusement and they clearly read, 'Die.'

"NO!"

* * *

"Kagome! Wake up!"

Somebody was shaking her.

"Wake up, dammit!"

Somebody was shaking her _hard_.

"Ugghn…" she moaned, batting away the hand that lay on her shoulder, "St-stop it. I'm awake…" Sitting up, she blinked at the bright light and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Wh-what happened? Why am I on the ground?"

She looked around her to find that Inuyasha was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a concerned sort of frown on his face. Sango and Miroku were kneeling next to him, each looking at her worriedly.

"Are you alright, Kagome?"

"I… I'm fine. My head hurts a little… What happened?"

"You don't remember?" questioned Miroku.

"No…"

"Keh." Inuyasha abruptly stood up. "When the old hag began talking, you started looking weird and your eyes were like they were about to pop." He turned around so that his back was facing the girl. "You just stood there for a while before you fainted." His tone suggested that it was nothing, but the clenched fists said otherwise.

Kagome stared at his stiff back for a while before another voice drew her attention to Sango.

"It was like you couldn't hear us, Kagome," she said thoughtfully, "Even when Inuyasha tried snap you out of it, you didn't do anything."

Miroku intercepted her, "And you- you started glowing for a moment. There were a few tremours… it was quite scary, actually."

The girl frowned and closed her eyes, trying to remember what happened. However hard she tried though, all that came to mind was nothing.

"Try looking up, child." Kaede's old voice interrupted her thoughts. "Take a look at the Tower."

Obeying, Kagome chanced a glance upwards and she suddenly remembered what she had seen in full detail. Her eyes grew wide and she stood up, taking a few steps backwards. "Where… where's the destruction? The people?" She glanced around. "And that… that Superior… where is he?"

She took one step too many and tripped over a piece of rock and started falling backwards. Scrunching her face up, the schoolgirl prepared to hit the dirt, but something caught her.

She opened her eyes. "Inuyasha?" His arm supported her waist.

"Keh. You're too clumsy for your own good," remarked the half-demon, straightening her up. "And what Superior? People? Destruction? Nothing's happened here." He conveniently forgot to remove his arm from her waist.

She was decidedly confused. "B-but I was so sure it happened… It looked so real…"

"Because it _had _happened. Years and years ago." Sango and Miroku parted to allow the old woman through before following her curiously. "You saw it, didn't you, Kagome?" Kaede studied her carefully with her one uncovered eye.

"I saw…"

"You saw what were Earth's last free moments. You saw how the Superiors took over the people. You experienced the joy of people celebrating New Year's Eve before the Superiors landed and began a slaughter."

Kagome's mouth dropped open. "How do you know?"

Kaede went on. "And this isn't the first time you've seen this. You've seen the Earth during its Golden Time before the Neo Age in your dreams before, have you not?" She smiled kindly when the girl's eyes grew even wider.

"But how…?"

"Because I searched your mind."

The teenager frowned before a light of understanding dawned on her face. "_You_ were the one…"

Finally growing impatient, Inuyasha butted in. "Would you mind explaining what the hell you two are talking about?"

Kagome turned around to look at him. "Don't you remember? Before the lights turned on, something happened, right? You saw two eyes and saw…" she faltered.

He finished for her. "My memories." He whirled around to glare at the Elder. "Old hag, I don't appreciate it when you rift thorugh my fucking mind without my permission." He raised his unoccupied hand and flexed it.

Suddenly frowning, the two rebels moved in front of the old woman, but before they could do anything, Kagome had beat them to it.

"Inuyasha! Don't be so impolite! I'm sure that Kaede-baa-san had a reason why she did what she did…" She twirled around in his grip to glare at the hanyou. "Besides, it's not like it made you any dumber than you already are!"

He frowned. "What do you mean, bitch--?"

She gasped, eyes widening in indignation before the old woman stepped in. "You two, stop arguing. I did search your mind, and the girl is right. It was to ensure that your intentions were good."

The half-demon's attention whirled back onto the woman. "What intentions? We came here through a stupid accident!"

Kaede only rasied an eyebrow and remarked in a rather mysterious voice, "Nothing is through coincidence, Inuyasha." She raised her one eyed gaze to his face. "And I'm sure that you would like to know some more details about your mother, would you not?"

That certainly caught his attention. He gaped at her wordlessly for a moment, golden eyes wide in astonishment. When he did speak, the hanyou even forgot to be rude. "You know… my mother?" There was an almost unnnoticable tone of hopefullness in his voice.

The old woman's lips twitched. "I knew her. Izayoi was a beautiful woman and very kind." She sighed. "But now, however, is not the time nor place to discuss this. Shall I tell you the story of what Kagome saw? And also, what I saw, years and years ago?"

"You… saw it to?"

The old woman smiled at Kagome. "When I was young."

Inuyasha moved to protest, but one look at the girl who (he noticed with a flush) was still in his hold, and he stilled his tongue. The teenager appeared to be greatly interested in what had happened, and the half-demon had to admit that he also wanted to know what had spooked the girl so. He sought to pry his arm off her waist without her noticing, but to no avail. Mistakeningly, the hand drifted a little too far south, going into a dangerous zone.

Suddenly becoming of a less than welcome grip on her lower back, Kagome gasped, glue eyes widening as an almost comically shocked expression took hold of her face before it reddened. "Ah… Inuyasha?"

'Whoops?' The half-demon quickly whipped the offending appendage from the violated area. "Accident." He waved his hands in the air, looking remakably like a tomato. "I didn't mean to." Doggy ears caught a snort and golden eyes raised, greatful for any distraction. "_What_ did you say?" The outraged yell was directed at a certain sniggering violet-eyed, soon-to-be-in-great-pain man.

Said human was attempting to hide, without success, shaking shoulders and a gleeful expression. He straightened, schooling the expression on his face to be a little more passive. "Oh, nothing. I'm _sure_ your hand slipped." Miroku gave the red-faced hanyou a wink.

Kagome turned an even darker shade of red as she covered her eyes with her hand.

Gritting his teeth, the boy marched up to him and promptly smacked him painfully round the head before walking back to stand next to Kagome, although keeping a few feet away. "That's what I think of your 'theory', and unlike _some_ people, I'm able to keep my hand off females." 

Nodding, Sango too, delivered her punishment in form another smack on the head. Frowning and rubbing his abused noggin, Miroku glared at her reapproachfully. "What was that for?"

She crossed her arms. "For the dirty thoughts running through your head."

"I'm afraid you must be mistaken, lovely Sango." Another perverted smile crossed his face. "You're the only thing running through my head."

This time, everybody turned away from the sight as the girl inflated with indignation and delivered a blow to the man. However, from the lack of a horribly loud cry, it was assumed that the hit wasn't as hard as it could have been. Turning back, Kagome noted with some glee that Sango was pink in the cheeks. Miroku had raised his arm in an attempt to deflect her attack, but slowly lowered it in surprise at the lack of enthusiasm.

"Sango?"

The girl shook her head in an exasperated expression and turned to the amused Elder. "Kaede-baa-san?"

The old woman couldn't keep a small smile off her face as she gazed at the four younger ones. 'Young love…' Clearing her throat, Kaede nodded at the young woman and turned to face the towering monument at the centre of the area. Suddenly all business once more, the others, too, raised their gazed to it. "As I was saying before I was… cut off, the story of how the earth came to be as it is starts here." She glanced behind her at the others. "However, it's not only here that the event happened, but in many others places as well."

"What the hell?"

The old woman turned her gaze to the hanyou who had interrupted. "What is it?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "You're not making any sense, old woman."

"Patience, Inuyasha. You need to learn patience."

He grumbled several rude things under his breath, earning a firm smack on the arm from Kagome. "Inuyasha! Respect your elders."

"Yeah, yeah." Like the mature seventeen-year-old he was, the hanyou made a face at her as soon as her back was turned and stuck out his tongue. "Whatever."

Pretending she hadn't heard him, Kagome smiled at the other three. "Please continue, Kaede-baa-san. And," she shot an annoyed glance at Inuyasha, "ignore him."

The elder woman nodded knowledably and directed everybody's attention back to the tower. "That structure had been completed in the year twenty-twenty of the age when demons and humans ruled the earth. Despite what you must have been told in the Upper world, this planet hadn't been a disaster when the Superiors discovered it."

"Keh. No surprise there."

Following the girl's advice, Kaede ignored the half-demon. "On the contrary, the inhabitants had finally attainted a sort of neutral status where there was no longer any need for war. The Final Battle had been ended in the year twenty-nineteen- which would be three hundred and twenty years ago. It is ironic that for peace to have been achieved, it was necessary to fight." She gave a dry chuckle. "But that is the way of the people."

She slowly lead the group towards the base of the tower. They followed, albeit slightly weary- who knew when that thing was going to collapse?

"Construction was begun on this tower directly after the end of the last battle, and was finally completed in time for New Year's Eve- that is to say, the first day of the first month of the year twenty-twenty- three hundred and nineteen years ago. It was named the 'Peace Tower'."

"But why did they build it?" Miroku's serious voice echoed in the large enclosement. "And why here, in Tokyo?"

Kaede placed a hand on the dented metal covering the base of the tower. Some of the metal shell had been chipped and worn away, revealing a strong cement foundation. "It was simply built to celebrate the end of war. The treaty that had been signed at the end of the battle called for world-wide unity. And why here?" She shrugged. "Who knows? Perhaps it was because of the fact that Tokyo had been the most developed city of the world, or it could have been because of any other reason."

"I see…"

She nodded. "Almost twenty years of peace passed on earth, and soon, it was the New Year's Eve of the year twenty-forty. Every year since the completence of the Peace Tower, there had been many celebrations on the eves of the new years to recognise the many who had given their lives to attain the world status, not to mention to ring in the New Year. The day itself was changed from simple 'New Year's Eve' to 'New Year's Anniversary Eve'." The old woman turned around to face the young people. "Any questions so far?"

There wasn't a sound, but while Inuyasha opened his mouth to make a remark, Kagome silence him with a meaningful look.

The storyteller raised an amused eyebrow. "Was it something rude, Inuyasha?"

"Keh."

Shaking her head, she moved on, walking around the wide base of the monument. "I won't tell you what happened in the past twenty years because there is no need to. Humans and demons learned to live among each other without major disagreement although there was a mutual distrust. I will, however, say that the people of the old earth, before the Neo Age have one thing that we will never attain with the Superiors here: freedom." At this point, Kaede shot a glance at the blue-eyed girl. "They were allowed the freedom of speech, freedom of publication, freedom of individuality.

"Kagome, you have seen such scenes of this almost unimaginable freedom, correct?"

The girl started and found four pairs of eyes staring at her intently. "Yes." The hanyou beside her cocked an eyebrow but remained silent. "I had dreams"

"Then please, child. Tell us." The one visible eye closed. "My mind grows old and my memory is a little fuzzy. Tell us what you saw in your visions."

Kagome took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, visualising the scene. "Well for one, everybody was allowed to go wherever they wanted and to dress in whatever clothes they wished. There were so many colours- not just grey. Even the buildings were painted in different colour." A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. "It was a beautiful world. And there was also organic life growing within the city itself where people could see and visit at anytime.

"Demons and human walked down the streets as if it were a normal occurance and somehow, I think everything was happier. The sky was blue, not grey. We were allowed to make our own decisions and not have some overruling government power telling us what to do." Blue eyes opened. "Simply put, we were free."

"And yet we were not." The old woman's voice snapped the girl out of her almost trance-like state and brought the others from their thoughts.

Sango was the one to ask the question that ran through all their minds. "What do you mean?"

Kaede stared at them firmly. "You must know that there is never such a thing as true freedom. Wherever life may be found, it is governed by laws and restrictions. Whether it be the laws of physics or otherwise, there is never true freedom. The only way that could exist is if the world was thrown into chaos."

Stunned by the sudden revelation, the younger ones chose to remain quiet.

The old woman sighed and lead her group away from the tower. "However true as that may be, Kagome is also correct. We had been more free than we are now. Demons and humans at least governed themselves or had a form of democracy- that is to say, had a group of individuals chosen by the people to govern them."

"Keh. Who'd want somebody to govern you? Why not just take it into your own hands?" Inuyasha's arms were crossed.

"As I mentioned, pure freedom would result in chaos." She waited for the hanyou to make another remark but receiving none, moved on. "However, on that New Year's Anniversary Eve of the year twenty-thirty-nine, about two hundred and ninety-nine years ago-"

"But that must be just before the Neo Age started!" Sango broke in with an exclamation.

"That is correct," Kaede turned to Kagome, "Isn't it?"

The girl nodded slowly. It wasn't likely that she would ever forget what had happened. "The thirty-first of December of the year twenty-thirty-nine."

The old woman gave an uncharacteristic snort. "It's ironic that the Neo Age began on the first day of a new year. December corresponds to the twelfth month, and each of the twelve months carried their own names." When Sango expressed an interest in the names, Kaede shook her head. "Not now. Allow me to finish the tale." She shot a sidelong look at Kagome. "I may need your help."

Slightly worried, the girl nodded, not sure whether she was ready to tell exactly what she saw just yet.

"That year's celebrations had promised to be the most elabourate spectacle yet with an extensive display of fireworks-"

"Fire-whats?"

Kaede looked at Inuyasha. "Fireworks. Brilliant explosions in the air that create patterns and colours. A fireworks show is generally used to celebrate something and this one was designed to be set off in coordination with music."

Miroku started. "But wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"They travel so high up into the sky that the sparks have burned out by the time they drift halfway down to the ground." Her eyes twinkled. "In fact, we have found a large supply of these playthings invented by the old people. Of course, we can't light them up down here with the current status, but one day…" She drifted off, leaving the others to picture it themselves.

They turned to Kagome.

"…What?"

Sango's expression was eager. "Can you describe it?"

The girl shook her head sadly. "I never got to see the display… something happened to stop it."

"And indeed it had." Attention was reverted back to Kaede. "It was customary for the show to start at the stroke of midnight- the beginning second of the New Year. The attractions set up attracted thousands of people from all over the city and the neighbouring cities. Tokyo wasn't the only major area with such a special gathering. Every continent; every country and indeed, every area populated by people had someway or another to clock down the celebrations.

"You have to note that while here in Japan, as this area was formerly called, it was nighttime, in the lands across from us, on the other side of the world, it was daytime."

The four listeners nodded.

"But this time, something horrible happened." The old woman cut herself off and gave a not unkind look to Kagome. "If you will then, please."

The girl took in a deep breath and looked around at the curious faces of her new friends. "Well, there were lots of people gathered around me, and some attractions…" She proceeded to tell of what she had saw and what she had experienced. She told of the steady countdown and even of the emotions drawn on all their faces. "And the weird thing was, nobody noticed I was there. I even shouted but nobody paid attention to me. But then, when the countdown reached zero…"

She proceeded to explain the blackout in great detail, but stopped just as she reached the part with the black meteorite opening. Her voice was almost mechanical as the events flashed through her mind's eye.

Kagome drew in a shuddering breath. "And then this demon stepped onto the rock that made a path." Her eyes closed. "He was shot dead. And then a lot of these weird looking creatures stepped out from the spaceship thing and began… killing everybody."

The area was dead silent and Kagome's voice echoed strangely in the almost empty area. The others surveyed her with a grave interest before Kaede's gentle voice broke the calm. "The Superiors- has anybody here actually seen them? In real life?"

The others shook their heads. Never before had any of them actually met the dominating race face to face and from what they had just heard, they never wanted to.

"They are a very intelligent and extremely advanced race. Their technology couldn't be matched by that of the demons and humans- it was impossible. The truth of the matter is that they have had centuries of evolution behind them. Long before the first human walked erect or when the first demon gained intelligence, the Superiors had developed far ahead of where we are even now." She glanced at the girl, gesturing to her to finish her story.

Kagome sighed and continued, "They killed anything and everything that moved. I don't know if they finished off everybody because-" She bit her lip.

"Because?"

Blue eyes raised to clash with amber. She drew strength from Inuyasha. "Because then one of the Superiors- they're not very 'normal' looking- he was coming towards me, and even though nobody else knew I was there… he…"

"Was staring directly at you?"

Kagome started and glanced at Kaede before shuddering and nodding. A cold grip covered her heart. "And it was like… like he was telling me that I'd die too…" She shook and suddenly felt very chilled. It was as if the temperature had suddenly dropped several degrees.

The others gasped as a faint green glow began to emit from somewhere just below her neck. Kaede's gaze sharpened and she hurried forwards towards the girl. Glancing in her eyes, she could see that Kagome's soul was becoming lost- and because of…

The old woman hurriedly reached around the girl's neck and snapped a red string that wound it. Bringing it up to the light, she revealed Kagome to have been wearing an interesting green medallion. As soon as it had left contact with the girl, she stopped shivering. The medallion sparkled eerily in the glow and revealed an intricate carving of a dragon and some sort of sword with kanji written on the side.

A gasp pierced the suddenly silent air.

All eyes ventured onto Sango.

She was pale white and pointing with a shaking hand at the medallion. "Where- where…" Horrified magenta eyes shot down to look at the recovering girl. "Where did you get that?"

Slowly, Kagome opened her eyes and slowly glanced up.

When blue met magenta, a chill of familiarity ran through the girl as her mouth dropped open and she took a step back into Inuyasha.

"It's you- y-you're that girl…" Kagome was oblivious to the stares of the other three as she concentrated on Sango. How could she not have noticed? The eyes, the hair… it all matched up! "I've seen you before…" A wave of pain rolled through Kagome's head, and before she knew it, everything turned black.

For the second time that day, Kagome fainted, this time backwards and right into Inuyasha's arms.

"Oi! Kagome!"

* * *

Review Responses:

-- KAWAII Little Wolf  
You feel like you're really there? That's great! That's the purpose of a story, after all- to create a fantasy situation for the reader… or something like that… -.-;; Description is good, only I hope not to over use it… too much makes the story long and unbearable…

-- luckykittykagome  
Oh boy. If I made Houjo her counterpart… ah hah. I shudder to think what the response to that would be… Probing- yes. Very interesting. You can thank my beta for that idea. My original test was slightly more simple and stupid. . Dreams, well, they can come true, but in this case, it's very slim. .

-- Ryngrl5   
Not everyday… The general update wait is a week… if it's longer, the reason's usually on my bio and there's a progress statistic report there too. But strangely enough, in the summer, I have a slackened mind, so I don't do well to keep on schedule. .

-- Kim  
I've actually forgotten most of the plot for that story… ::cough:: But I believe there are a lot of things that set the two apart, no? Portray it as being real? How so? As in, physical- touch and feel type? Or a more vivid visual aspect? I'm making myself confused… O.o You didn't have to shut up…

.

Many Thanks to:

Trina3 (paper clips?)

SarcasmGirl8

Douteki Dyuo

darkscorpio28 (how true…makes you think, no?)

Amped-Chaos (Thanks! Kagome's powers… more later)

sarahlovesDBZ (flashbacks galore... -.-;;)

* * *

[Longer wait than usual and another small cliffhanger. How nice I am, ne? Eh heh. I've been busy again; mainly with research for 'The Sealed Garden' and a future fic. I hope the next chapter won't take as long, but next week is horribly filled: A theory examination and a practical piano examination that I'm sure to fail.

But don't worry- Once the first couple weeks of August are over, I'll be able to concentrate on my stories… but… then again… there're extra math classes from my father.

…

Damn. .

Chapter... not up to par, and I might brush it up a little later. This one was heavily loaded with a history lesson- not fun.

Point of interest: I've made a general notify list, but I'm too lazy to type it up here. Check out my bio for more info.

Till next time… (Whenever that may be)

Ja…]


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